The Loss You Gained
by WybiE'z KidNapPer
Summary: High School is about building character, so to stay on top you kick everyone else down. This had worked fine for him until he pushed his Teacher, his friends and his Uncle too far. Now suffering from physical and mental abuse, the result of bad rumours and being the subject of hate by the people who should of helped him, Sonic doesn't know how to fix the pieces of his broken life.
1. Popular With Most

**Okay so his is my first High School fic, this might be interesting. It is a little dark so there's a warning there. Truthfully I don't have a direct plan for this story, heck this chapter turned out darker then I had planned but there we go. All characters are their own age and look the same way clothes wise, so Sonic isn't in pants okay? I don't like that.**

**Anyway hope you enjoy and please review.**

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><p>Life was different now.<p>

Whenever he walked down the halls of High School the blue hedgehog didn't feel the need to shrink down or curl into himself to be hidden, not anymore. Now he could walk with his head high, a little swag in his step and a cocky grin on his face as he passed a group of cute girls, sending them a wink to which they swooned for. His bag hung loose from his back while his friends, yes friends, pulled out a football and started to kick it about.

He laughed with confidence as they kicked the ball to him, letting him pick it up with his feet before doing numerous of tricks and moves, making sure the girls were watching him before sending it back.

Students watched as the red echidna tripped over it before jogging to the blue hedgehog and falling onto him, ruffling his sharp quills with his big fists playfully while the others joined in and pushed him off. They weren't alone in their group. A green hawk, a purple chameleon and silver hedgehog had taken over the game of football while following the two boys outside into the large field.

It wasn't so long after that more boys joined them and they all went into their natural positions. The red echidna ran to the goal post, just in time to save the other teams score than picked up the ball and shouted for the star player's attention. The blue hedgehog looked his way and watched as the strong sixteen year old threw the ball out to him. Then before anyone had a chance to reach it, he had moved. No one could see either him or the ball as a gush of wind nearly threw everyone down to the ground, faster than a tornado could have taken him. A streak of blue ran around the entire opposing team, running circles around them before stopping for a mere second in front of the goal. Then with a strong force he kicked the ball into the net.

Knuckles was the first to cheer, running to his friend with his arms in the air and jumping onto his back. The others shortly followed until he was practically buried beneath his friends, each one cheering about their victory.

**XxX**

"Mr. Hedgehog! You are late once again" the accusing voice pounded through the whole classroom. Each student stopped their work and stared at the less then caring boy who simply wiped the dust from his legs. Their teacher stood tall with her arms crossed and a scowl upon her face. Even though she wasn't very old, she dressed as if she was. The black cat liked to wear long skirts and blouses with a brooch. Her hair was always in a bun while her glasses had a long chain that went around her head. She may have dressed like she was old, but her attitude was that of someone older.

Sonic barely even moved, deciding he would just smirk as her eye twitched at the sight of him. It was well known he was pretty much hated by ever teacher in this place.

"Care to explain why you missed the first ten minutes of class? And why there is mud covering your legs?" she questioned, her eyes glancing at his mud caked shoes. If it wasn't Sonic she hated most then it was mud or anything dirty or untidy. Her lips practically quivered at the thought of letting him in her clean class room. Once again it hardly fazed him as he casually shrugged, "I was transported into a book and forced to save a magic genie" he answered casually, earning a few laughs from his fellow students. Again his teacher wasn't happy, "You ignorant boy" she hissed. Raising a brow, Sonic smirked further "Hey I'm pretty sure teachers shouldn't be insulting students..."

"Go and sit down before I really get angry with you. I want you in detention after school!" She ordered while slapping her book on her desk angrily. Sonic merely rolled his eyes before walking to his chair. Only as he turned he realised his normal seat where he sat with his friends was taken. In fact none of his mates had actually saved him a seat at all. He sent them a questioning look but all they did was mouth an apology. He couldn't blame them though; normally if he was late it meant he wasn't going in at all. It was a surprise to even see him come in. Knowing his friends were no help, he looked around to see where he could sit, and to his horror there was only one seat left.

With a loud and irritated growl that everyone heard, the hedgehog had to ignore the sympathetic laughs and comments that followed his way as he sat down next to the two tailed freak who sat in the corner of the class next to the row of windows.

The young fox watched as the Football star pulled the chair as far away from him as he could, threw his bag under the desk and sat down irritated. He wanted to make it as clear as possible he wasn't happy with his seating buddy and so refused to even glance at the fox, afraid he'd have to talk to him. Instead he did what he normally did, tip his chair back and place his muddy red shoes onto the desk.

The younger fox turned his nose up at the sight; he tried to move his paper away from the boy's feet so not to ruin his work. Truthfully the boy didn't want to be sat next to the hedgehog as much as the other did. Sonic was a bully, no matter how much he denied it. The guy thought he was amazing because he could run faster than the speed of sound, and he called _him_ a freak for having two tails!

Sonic hadn't liked Tails since he first came into his classroom, but then no one did really. Everyone in that classroom was either fifteen or sixteen; the fox was only eight years old. The School had realised his potential and so again and again Tails had skipped years until he found one that wasn't below his level. Unfortunately he made the mistake of showing one of Sonic's friends up on his first day when correcting the echidna's answer and questioning how he could make such a simple mistake. Needless to say, he didn't have many friends now.

Truthfully he had wanted to be friends with Sonic. He had always though the guy was cool even if he was arrogant, but most of all he had wanted to know more about his speed. Tails loved science, he was brilliant at it, along with inventing. When he learned of how fast Sonic was he had tried several times to ask the hedgehog about it, to see if he would let him run tests to learn even more. Each time though his efforts were wasted. Either one of Sonic's friends would push him away or Sonic himself would put him down.

It didn't matter now though, he didn't care anymore, or at least he tried to tell himself that.

Sonic placed his hands behind his head as he tried to relax. He kept watching his friends, they all had their Science books out but none of them were doing much work, they were all just talking, sometimes just glancing at him. They were talking about him, he knew it, but damn he couldn't hear what they were saying. Knowing he had to distract himself, he turned his head slightly and watched as the young fox next to him read his book excitedly, writing down any information he found interesting or looking at their teacher to take in what she was saying. As it turned out he was no paying attention as the teacher called his name "Sonic put your feet down!" she shouted, stopping her work and waiting. All eyes were on him as usual while he stared at the teacher challengingly. It seemed like whenever he was annoyed with someone he would smile at them, it kept him in control no matter what the outcome "Say please".

**XxX**

Sonic grumbled angrily to himself as he once again had to tediously write the same sentence again. "I will not answer back my Teacher"

He was told to write this 100 times on the black board and by now his wrist was hurting so much. The final School bell had rung half an hour ago and everyone had left the School but him. He was going to go out to the cinema with his friends, only now he missed it. He had really hoped to see Sally as well, he had wanted to make sure they were still okay, and that they're argument they had last week hadn't broken them up again. Only instead he was stood with pains in his arms wanting nothing more than to go home.

What had seemed like hours, he finally got all the lines finished. His Science teacher walked through the door, almost like she had been waiting until he put the chalk down. Her timing was always impeccable he could give her that. Turning around he threw himself to the wall and blew a sharp breath in relief, glad it was over. The teacher sat down at one of the desks in the front row and stared at him calmly. She crossed her legs over and held her hands together, "Do you have anything to say for yourself?" she asked expectantly. Sonic looked to the door, seeing it half open was like bait to him, but he'd only pay for it later. "I'm sorry I was trying to teach you manners" he boredly stated, once again not taking her seriously. The teacher knew this, and once again she was feeling sick to her stomach of him. For years everytime she had a class with him she would yell, argue and fight back, but he never ever showed her respect, never listened or did as he was told. Normally she would accept this and let him go, but this time was different. This time she had finally snapped. With no warning she lunged at the fifteen year old and grabbed him by his shoulders violently digging her claws into his skin.

"What are you doing?" Sonic cried, trying to fight from her grip, but she was surprisingly strong. "I am sick and tired of you, you little rat!" she spat at him. "Stop it you're hurting me!" he yelped, realising how angry she truly was. The door was open and no one was hearing her, he tried to get loose once again but she held him against the wall. He was trapped, and now memories of similar situations unfolded in his mind, for the first time in a while he truly felt scared.

"I swear if you ever show me up like that again you will pay for it. You are nothing more than a pathetic pest! I have spent too long dealing with your insults, your pranks and annoying attitude. If you dare try it again then detention is the last thing you'll be worried about" each time she hissed at him spitefully, she shook him and caused him to painfully hit his head against the wall. He could hardly control his breathing, he could never have seen this coming and he feared what she was going to do next. "So let me ask you again, what do you have to say for yourself?"

"I'm sorry, I'm really sorry okay? I won't do it again. Please just let me go" he panicked, wanting to be far away from her and this place. With a smile he wasn't sure whether good or bad; the teacher unlatched her claws from off his shoulders and straightened herself up as if nothing happened. She dusted her skirt and mimicked his smirk from before. "Good boy Sonic, I'll be holding you to your word. As for homework you'll be doing a Science project. You have four weeks to complete it and it will be in teams. I've assigned you with Mr. Prower, the young boy you sat with today, you seemed to be getting on pretty well" she smiled.

Sonic looked at her, seeing the sadistic look in her eyes when she told him he'd be working with the School freak. She was taking so much pleasure out of it, but he was too scared to say no to her now. Had she not just attack him he would have bugged her until he got to pick his own partner. Now though he didn't care anymore. He wanted out.

"Tails has the homework and guidelines for you to follow. Don't disappoint me" she finished as if it was a challenge. Once again she smiled, but she turned away from the boy and left the room, leaving the door open.

He couldn't get his head around it, she had attacked him, she actually attacked him! What should he do? Should he tell the police, tell the principal? No, Pr. Robotnik hated him as much as she did, the Eggman wouldn't care… He had to leave, he had to get out of here.

With a shaky breath Sonic quickly stood up and grabbed his bag, using the speed he was known for he ran. In no more than seconds he was out of the School and at the gates. It wouldn't have been long until he was home but in his moment of haste he failed to notice the girl standing in his way before slamming into her which sent them both rolling over each other in the dirt.

Reaching his hand to his head, Sonic groaned as his vision blurred in and out from the trip. He could make out a shape of someone's face, which was uncomfortably too close to his. After blinking a few times, his heart sunk when he recognised the pink quills and the strange smile that formed between them. "Amy!" he gasped. "Sonic!" she squealed back. He suddenly realised that she was lying completely on top of him and her arms almost wrapped round his body in a hug, hopefully a result from the fall.

Even though she was happy to see him, he by far was the opposite. "What are you doing here? School broke half an hour ago?" he questioned angrily, mostly because he knew the answer. "Well I knew you were going out today but then you got detention. I waited back so we could walk home together, seeing as how you might be lonely and all…" she trailed off. Normally on a good day Sonic didn't have the mentality to deal with his stalking neighbour, so today was even worst. He just wanted to go home. Not caring if he was being gentle he pushed the girl off him, quickly sitting up and grabbing his bag. "Just go away Amy, I sick of telling you this…" he had wanted to carry on, to tell her he wasn't interested, but he stopped when he realised the words he had said, the exact words he used. Just like his teacher.

From nowhere he felt tears start to well in his eyes. They nearly spilled when Amy stood up and touched his shoulder, "It's okay if you don't wanna hang out. Though I did kinda miss the bus to see you, and where it only takes you five seconds to go home it takes me twenty minutes to walk" she laughed lightly, even though she was really hoping. "Yeah well start walking then" and with that Sonic left, a streak of blue leaving the upset girl behind.

He didn't care how upset she got he didn't have time. He just wanted to go home. Besides she didn't have any reason to be hurt. It's not like he grabbed her and pushed her against the wall. He didn't know what to do. Just as Amy had said he was back at his home in a matter of seconds. It was only a small house in a quiet neighbourhood, it was nothing to get excited about. The car was in the drive way, meaning he wasn't going to be alone for long.

Placing his hand on the handle, he breathed deeply and wiped away the remaining tears from his mussel. Feeling a bit better he walked into his home. His bag dropped to the ground before he even closed the door, and he quickly took off his shoes kicking them away. He didn't go into the living room, or even look in any of the rooms. All he did was run up the stairs, not with his usual speed though, not without wearing his shoes. He ran past all the rooms until he reached the one all the way at the back. Behind the closed door he could hear what sounded like a drill grinding through metal. It didn't bother him though as he threw the door open.

Inside many machines and tables were placed carefully, taking advantage of the large space of the room. Everything inside was metal, as robotic pieces laid about either finished or unfinished. Sonic's eyes lay upon the man that had built it all. He held a large plate of metal in his hands as he pushed it through the saw cutting it to size. The room was too noisy for him to take notice of the door being opened, if it wasn't the saw making a noise it was the loud music plastic from the inbuilt speakers on the wall.

He didn't bother calling out, knowing it wouldn't matter. Instead he waited for the elderly blue hedgehog to finish, placing the metal on the table and switching off the saw. When he did so, the man pulled the goggles from his face and wiped the sweat from his brow. He hardly turned around before he felt a large weight tackle him, knocking him down into his chair and taking the air out of his lungs.

Feeling arms smaller than his grip around his neck, he felt his beloved nephew burry his face deep into his chest, refusing to show himself. The older man rested his hands upon his back but instantly felt the shivering as low sobs emitted from the boys lips. Tears were warm again his skin as the man quickly pulled his nephew in, sitting him upon his lap and holding him tightly. His eyes widened as he noticed the bruises and scratches that lined on the boys shoulders. He wanted to ask but he knew his nephew too well. He knew there wasn't going to be a real answer until he wanted to give one. So instead he rubbed his arm gently and planted a kiss of the top of his head, his moustache tickling Sonic's ear.

Maybe the most popular boy in School wasn't as happy as everyone thought.


	2. Punishment

**Well damn this is a long chapter. Also the fastest I have ever updated a story. Some may noticed I changed the summery slighty, that was because in the last chapter I was unsure where I wanted the story to go, but now I thought about it I know where it's heading. Let's just hope I actually finish this one :)**

**Just wanna thank the people who reviewed and followed, also a reply to Guest (my first review woop) thank you and yes I drew the picture :)**

**Anyway please keep the reviews coming and hope you enjoy.**

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><p>Nothing but questions ran through the older hedgehogs mind. He was currently next to the stove, the chilly he was making was only half done as he added some of his home grown herbs. He tried to concentrate on the food but his eyes kept looking to the small island just behind him. Sonic was sat with his back to him, his mind completely cleared and his eyes dry. In his hand he held a ball and laughed each time he squeaked it, causing the large dog at his feet to spin around in excitement before trying to jump for the ball. Sonic held it far away though, not giving his dog a chance.<p>

"Sonic don't play with Muttskie in the kitchen, you know I don't like him around when food is being made" the boy's Uncle complained. Sonic finally looked at him, only to appear sad "Okay Chuck" he muttered before throwing the ball out of the kitchen, watching the dog follow it before closing the door once he left.

A sigh was emitted from Chuck as he watched Sonic go back to his chair, dropping his head into his arms as if he was tired. It wasn't so much the fur moulting wildly from the beast that was his main concern; he just really wanted Sonic's complete attention. His nephew never confided in him, he never told him there was a problem until it was too late. Normally he could accept this, trusting the boy would use his head when it was serious, but when he comes home crying with scars and bruises on his shoulders Chuck could only fear the worst. Was he being bullied again? What was going on?

"Sonic what happened to your shoulders?" he asked firmly. The teenager lifted his head and locked eyes with his Uncle before they fell to the bruising on his peach arms. Subconsciously he rubbed them, "After detention I ran into Amy and fell over" he lied. Chuck raised his brow, he knew he was lying about it, he knew by the fact only his shoulders were hurt. So he had to let it go, "Why did you have detention?" he didn't sound happy and Sonic knew it.

With a shrug the boy looked away, "I showed up the Science teacher" he admitted. In all fairness if he had known she'd attack him he would have kept quiet. He didn't though, and he decided to keep the event of the day to himself. The last thing he wanted was his Uncle going to School to complain, it was too embarrassing. Besides it was probably a one of.

"Sonic why would you do that?" Chuck questioned, even if he was angry he was always so gentle when it came to Sonic, it often made the boy feel guilty. Looking in shame, he felt like he didn't have a real answer, "sorry" he mumbled, not knowing what else to say. He didn't feel like recalling the day's events. Instead he stayed silent as his Uncle rubbed his forehead with his fingers as if a headache was coming on. He said nothing but turned back to making their supper.

As the silence was uneasy, it broke when Sonic's phone vibrated. Curiously he opened it to see it was from Knuckles.

_Hey Sonic, how'd deten go?_

He swallowed a little when reading the message, it was like no matter what it was all people wanted to talk about. He'd been in detention before so what was the big deal this time?

His Uncle must have seen him looking uneasy at the message, because now he was staring at the phone as if it was responsible for Sonic's bad day.

_It sucked naturally. How was the movie?_

_You didn't miss much tbh. We're going bowling, wanna meet up? Sal been missin you ;)_

He wanted to put yes, wanted to ask his Uncle to bag the chilly dogs up to take with him and normally he would, but he just didn't feel right. He didn't know why but the thought of going out made him feel a little sick, he was starting to lose his appetite from just thinking about it. All he wanted to do was stay home and be with his Uncle, not that he'd say that. Uncle Chuck was basically the only person that made him feel safe. He needed that now.

_Soz, grounded by Unc :(_

"Give me your phone" the sharp voice forced him to look up, his Uncle was not happy as he held his hand out. A stern look in his eyes was the warning Sonic needed. Without question he handed his phone to his Uncle, who started to look through his conversation with Knuckles. He knew his Uncle didn't like many of his friends, he always worried they were using him. Sonic realised he must have noticed the uneasy look on his face, the drawback of living with a genius.

When he was satisfied, Chuck placed the phone back down, "I'm not grounding you Sonic, you can go out if you like." The fifteen year old looked down at his phone before biting on his lip, "I'm not really feeling good Unc, I just wanna stay home" he sighed. Chuck walked up to him and placed a hand on his forehead, truthfully he did look pale but his eyes were red and puffy from his crying before, which he still refused to talk about. Still he knew his nephew well enough by now, so with a small smile he took him into the living room before making him lie on the sofa. He pulled out a blanket and draped it over him before switching on the TV. It was just what Sonic needed.

**XxX**

The next day came and Sonic knew he had to face it. He had tried pulling the sick card again to get the day off but had no luck, his Uncle wasn't playing soft when it came to his education as it was something he felt too strongly about. So Sonic had to just be normal about things. Yesterday Chuck had put some cream, which stung like crazy, on his shoulders to stop infections but it didn't do much in covering them up, and he didn't want people asking questions. So Sonic decided to wear his old purple hoodie, it felt strange at first as he wasn't a fan of clothes but it would do.

He walked along the School halls as normal; his friends weren't with him this time though. He had asked them to make themselves scares for a few minutes so he could have some privacy. Despite what had happened he had other people to worry about. It was just unfortunate he had to walk past her classroom to reach the lockers. When he got there though, he smiled seeing the girl he wanted. A brown chipmunk leaned against the metal frame while talking to her friends, Mina Mongoose and Bunnie Rabbit. None of them had noticed him but he could hear their conversation.

"I just don't see that outfit working Mina, Purple and green?"

"It will be so cute, come on I'm only asking for an opinion before I go out with Ash"

"Wear those cute heels you got, you'll look fabulous!"

The three girls stopped and turned around to see the blue blur grin at them before laughing at the French accent he decided to put on. Sally didn't so much laugh but blushed; he was always the show off. "Ladies, mind if I steal the Princess from you?" he inquired smoothly, but didn't give them time to answer as he took Sally's hand and led her away to talk in private.

Once they were alone his arrogant grin was replaced with a small smile, "Hey" he said nervously, trying not to flush. Sally felt the tension, it was completely mutual, but she tried to laugh it off, "Hi. Where were you last night? I was hoping you'd join us" she hummed, slipping her hands into his and swaying them side to side. Sonic could feel his shoulders relax knowing things were still good between the two. It would have been his only reason for going out, but even then he couldn't handle it. "I told Knucklehead I wasn't feeling too good. Think my Uncle made some bad chilly" he scoffed, again lying, something he was good at. The chipmunk looked at him worriedly before pulling him into her arms, "Are you feeling okay now?" she asked. He couldn't but feel smug, the prettiest girl in School and she was his. He put his arm around her shoulders and walked with her, "I have you, that's all it takes to make me happy" he whispered in her ear before kissing her cheek. Many students were watching the two, even Sonic's friends who had caught up with them.

One girl particularly had seen the whole thing and she couldn't help seething through her teeth. Her books were held tightly to her chest but her hands nearly dropped them as they balled into fists. Without even thinking of what she was doing, the pink hedgehog ran to the popular crowed, shouting the blue hedgehog's name. Almost everyone stared at her and the clumsy run she did trying to catch up to the group. Sonic turned around, his arm still around Sally's shoulders, and practically growled when he saw the girl run towards him. His friends didn't help as they laughed, loving the antics that happened whenever his stalker showed up. Truthfully this was a normal occurrence, but this time Sonic really felt annoyed when seeing her, and he wasn't holding back now.

As she stopped before him she opened her mouth to talk but didn't get the chance. Sonic had held Sally tighter to him and spun them both to face the girl head on. "Look Amy, how many times is it going to take you to get the hint?" he asked patronisingly. The pink hedgehog froze, this wasn't normal. Normally he'd make an excuse to leave not question her. "What do you mean?" she asked, playing the ignorance card. A forced laugh was her response though, "Oh shut up and quit being so stupid. I've told you a hundred times now I'm not interested in a lonely, pathetic looser like you, okay?" he smiled darkly. His friends were looking at each other, each one stunned by his harsh words yet finding amusement in them. Amy could feel her checks burn and water fill her eyes, everyone was staring at her, even the kids who were just walking past and over heard them. She was feeling humiliated but it wasn't going to stop there. "S-Sonic please" she tried to hush, only for him to raise his hand to her face, "Uh no! I don't think so. Take a hint, sell the spy equipment, take the cameras down from my room and get a real makeover, maybe then a guy will find you attractive."

The roars of laughter filled the room, and now the tears had fallen. She stared at the man she loved more than anything with a broken heart. Sonic still smiled, he got the reaction he wanted, "Now if you don't mind I've got a lesson to go to. You have books to pick up" he finished, earning a look of confusion from everyone. Before anyone asked, his hand lashed out and slapped the books out of Amy's grip and watched as they flew everywhere. A startled cry came from the girl as she fell to her knees is despair. All his friends laughed at her, everyone laughed her. She was labelled with names such as Freak, Loser, Weirdo… Everything Sonic once was.

He didn't want to be there anymore. Even with Silver slapping his back, Knuckles telling him he was awesome, even with Bunnie and Mina grabbing his arm to laugh with him, he couldn't do it. Trying to act normal and still having Sally under his arm, he walked away with everyone following. It seemed like his girlfriend was the only one who wasn't laughing as she looked back sadly and watched the girl be tormented by people kicking her books away.

From the side of the locker a white bat had seen the whole thing, and now she watched the girl stand up and brush the remaining tears away from her eyes. The bat popped her glossy lips together, her eyes looking back at the crowd of popular jerks, guilty she used to be one of them. Now though it was time to get her own back, and take a poor girl under beautiful purple wing. She pushed herself away from the wall and followed the heart broken hedgehog.

**XxX**

The School morning had passed and each lesson was as boring as the next. They only had one lesson to go before they could all go to lunch. It didn't bother the cool crowd at all, which was why Sonic mostly stayed quiet for once, as their next lesson was Science.

The blue teen didn't know how to feel when he saw that door again, the sixth time that day. It was one of the classrooms that were in the heart of the School. Everyone had to pass it at one point of the day, making each hour feel slow and daunting to him. He had to face her though; he had to be in control again. So when his friends pushed open the door, he made sure he was the first to walk in.

The teacher stood there, her eyes glancing to them before settling on him. Once again she dressed in old clothes, her hair always in that bun only this time she had pencils in it. She had a few papers in her hands but dropped them on the desk loudly. Her eyes never left his.

Deciding to be the one to break the stare, Sonic walked to his usual seat next to his friends. He almost sat down until a noisy cough broke the chatter in the room and they all looked to the teacher, "I assigned everyone a team, and I expect them to sit accordingly" she hissed, her eyes again burning through the hedgehog. There was nothing different, this was practically every lesson, but now instead of rolling his eyes and doing what he wanted, Sonic picked up his bag and walked up to the lonely fox on the other side of the room.

Knuckles raised his brow, "Whoa what are you doing? Sit here!" he said pulling the chair out next to him, not understanding why his friend was actually doing as he was told. Sonic however looked at the teacher, he saw the same stare she showed him yesterday. "Move with me" he whispered to his mates, nudging his head towards the empty desk next to the one he would be sitting at. Despite feeling confused, Knuckles and the others did so and moved all their stuff over to the other desks. As Sonic sat down he groaned when he looked at the fox, knowing he was going to have to work with him. Tails tried to make the feeling look mutual, but he knew he just felt sad.

With everything settled the teacher spoke and focused on the work that was written on the board, going over the Science project they'd be working on. Sonic drowned it all out. He watched as the twin tailed fox once again wrote down everything he heard and his friends talked among themselves. He got the sense of De Ja Vu, as he again felt distant.

A small tap at his shoulder broke him from his small trance as he looked over to see Silver smirking, Knuckles was doing the same. "What's so funny?" he whispered. "Check it out" they handed Sonic a piece of paper that was being passed around the whole classroom. It was a crudely drawn picture of none other than the Science teacher wearing nothing but bloomers and a bra, they had also given her a zimmer frame. Even though the picture wasn't particularly clever, Sonic had stupidly snorted, loud enough for the teacher to stop her work and stare at him.

"What is so funny?" she asked blandly. All the students froze when they realised he was holding the picture, knowing he would get the blame. If anyone could get out of it it was him though.

Sonic tried to crumble the picture in his hands but the teacher was faster. She had run to his desk and snatched the picture straight from him. Only when she unfolded it her checked flushed in horror and she cried out from embarrassment. The students all laughed at her reaction, thinking it was hilarious, Sonic tried to laugh along as well but found it hard. The teacher's hands shook in fury as she lowered the paper down, ripping it in her hands. She was completely humiliated and she stared at the blue speed demon accusingly. "You…" she seethed. With a shaky hand she pointed at the hedgehog with complete rage, "I'd of thought you'd of learned your lesson by now" she hissed, her words having more meaning then the others knew, that much Sonic knew. However, Sonic also knew that there really wasn't much she could do to him. What happened yesterday was a mistake; she knew she'd lose her job had he talked. Therefore, he had nothing to worry about; he was in complete control again. So he smiled, "Look lady. I'm sat next to the teacher's pet what more do you want. At the end of the day all you can do is give me some stupid lines to write down, no big deal. It's not like you can force me to do anything, not without me telling anyway which would result in you being without a job. I think we both know you don't want that now don't we?" he grinned darkly, his words having as much hidden meaning as hers. Now he had an advantage, he could do as he liked. So pushing his luck even more he tipped his chair back, placed his arms behind his head and one after the other placed his feet up onto his desk.

**XxX**

The bell rang and everyone could go to lunch. All except for Sonic. The Science teacher had stood by his desk making sure he didn't slip out as everyone left. The teen's friends said they'd wait for him, but the teacher assured them it would be a long wait. When Sonic had shown her up once again she had stayed quiet for the rest of the hour. Everyone had thought Sonic did them a favour that he put her in her place, but they were far from wrong. She had been holding her anger in, waiting for the bell to ring to really get her chance.

When it was only the two of them left in the classroom, Sonic stood up with his backpack already on his shoulder ready to go. "I'm gonna join my friends" he stated, his smile no longer there. The teacher looked at him blankly, just the way she did yesterday before she gracefully walked to the slightly opened door. From the other side the loud noises of students talking amongst themselves filled up the classroom, but not after she shut the door to them. "Are you now?" she asked, humouring herself. A slight chill ran down Sonic's body as he watched her take a key from out of her pocket. "Yes I am. In case you hadn't noticed I had to wear this stupid hoodie today. I have scars all over my shoulders so unless you want me to tell, oh I don't know, Pr. Robotnik then… I'd…" his voiced cracked then became silent. He had watched as the teacher pushed the key into the key hole and locked the door. Her hand reached up to the top of her shirt and she put the key down her top, her eyes never looked at him.

He continued to stare, slowly shivering by her eerie silence. Her hand when to the small blind that rolled up above the small square window in the door. She pulled it down; blocking any view students would have of her classroom.

With her head high she walked with a straight back and her hands clasped together and went to the row of large windows that were near the desks he was forced to sit at. With each window she approached, her hand reached up and pulled the blinds down, one by for one. Sonic was backing away slowly as small beads of sweat fell from his brow and he held the strap of his bag tightly. "I'm serious. You'll lose your job once Eggman finds out…" he tried to threaten, but it didn't work. Once every blind was shut the teacher picked up a remote. With a single push of a button, the sound of loud, spin chilling opera music filled the entire room. The music she always listened to every lunch time, but this time it was loud enough to block out any other noise.

Now that everything was sorted, she finally looked at him. Just as yesterday, her normally strict but kind eyes snapped into something evil, just as yesterday, her pushed lips grimed in anger. Just as yesterday, she lunged at him.

She didn't just grab his shoulders though, this time she grabbed his arms and threw him into the desks. Following his startled cry, the sound of metal poles shrieked across the floor sharply as two desks were knocked over. Sonic's bag had fallen far away from him, but little did he care as his hands went straight to his head as he lay frightened on the ground.

Shock! All he could feel was shock. His eyes were wide and his body shook. He needed to escape. Slowly he turned himself onto his hands and knees, trying to push past the soreness in his back. He didn't have time to even push himself up as he saw the teacher stand by his head. Before he backed away her hands reached and grabbed the bottom of his hoodie and she screamed sharp cry of anger which couldn't be heard through the music. It was matched by Sonic's fearful scream when she roughly pulled at the hoodie, forcing it over his head and pulling it off his arms as he fought to keep it on.

As her hands gripped the garment ready to tare it, Sonic sat on the floor feeling completely exposed. His watery eyes locked with ones filled with fire while his hands crossed to his arms, trying to hide himself and the bruises on his shoulders. Throwing his top away, the woman mentally broke apart. Walking around him she grabbed him by the back of his quills, forcing him to stand up. With the agonising pain that filled his head, Sonic screamed as loud as he could, louder than the music was playing. His hands going to her hold to try and make her let go. In panic of how loud he screamed, the angered woman slapped her hand to his mouth, silencing him. "Shut up! Just shut up!" she hissed. He continued to call for help, only for his calls to be muffled and inaudible. He swung his arms at her, but she held him firmly around his waist with her free arm. Looking around she found an old rag one of the cleaning ladies had left on the floor. Dragging the frightened boy with her, she pulled him towards the back of the classroom where all the equipment was kept. Keeping her hand to his mouth she ignored the hot tears that spilled down her wrist and held his head so tightly close to her body that even when she let go of his waist he couldn't move. When she picked up the old rag, she wasted no time. Sonic was only allowed a second to scream when she let him go completely, but wasn't fast enough to get away in time before she threw the cloth around his muzzle. Screaming had allowed her to force the dusty rag into his mouth, silencing him further as it was tide at the back of his head.

He tried to call for help, tried to undo the rag and spit it out, but she gripped his shoulders and pushed him against the wall, his face scraping against the concrete. He pressed his palms against the wall trying to force her off, but her grip was still strong on the side of his head, pressing him further into the wall. His back was completely exposed to her.

Everything senses he had started to attack him. The noise of the opera music blasted so loud he couldn't hear the words his teacher spoke, he couldn't hear her voice break in hatred as she explained her actions, explained why she hated him so much, why he deserved everything he got. He didn't know what she was saying, he could see anything either, tears soaked into the rag and he held his eyes tight, his face grimaced in the agony he felt. Every time the hard metallic ruler cracked against his back, every time his teacher would scream in hatred at him, each hit getting stronger and harder than the last his body would jolt from the agonising shock. It was like a whip lashing him again and again and there was nothing he could do. He bit into the rag despairingly. No matter how much he tried his screams were completely muffled out. No one could hear him… no one could save him from this hell.

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><p><strong>Poor Sonic :(<strong>

**Yes I know it's a little dark but that's how the story is, the bad side of high school. Hope you guys liked and please leave a review for more.**


	3. Trapped

**My word this story is getting longer and longer. I don't think I've ever updated as quickly as this as well.**

**Well here we go, the plot thickens.**

**Sorry for any grammar mistakes, I'm not the best write in the world.**

**Anyways hope you guys enjoy the drama of it all lol.**

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><p>School was never usually this bad for her. Sure she got picked on for being a little… passionate; maybe she would go on a little more than people liked her to, maybe she didn't get on with other people for those reasons, but normally it never bothered her. She would always love going to School for the same reason, the boy who lived next door. It would have been the perfect love story; the most popular boy in School, loved by every girl, admired by every guy and he fell for his unpopular next door neighbour. It would be like something straight from a movie, his friends would have picked on her only for the boy to tell them to back off before taking her hand and showing her the beauty of being a teenager. It was all she had wanted, so badly. Every time she spoke to him in front of his friends, she had actually prayed for them to say something, anything to get a reaction out of him. She never would have thought he'd be the one to push her down. Whenever she saw him through the window from her kitchen, she would see him playing with his dog or talking to his elderly Uncle, sometimes helping him around the house. More often though she would see the side of him no one else did, the sensitive side where he'd walk up to his Uncle and wrap his arms around him before leaning upon his shoulder. That was the side of Sonic she fell in love with, seeing him every morning from her window, watching him write in his diary lost in thought only praying there was a page in there for her. Or remembering the days when he first moved in with his Uncle and he used to see her by her window watching him with curiosity, instead of keeping the blind shut he used to wave shyly in amusement. He was the sweetest person she had ever known.<p>

Apparently she was wrong. The boy she had fallen in love with didn't exist anymore, not to her anyway. All her fantasies and dreams had been destroyed when he pushed those books out of her arms. She had to go to her locker throughout the morning only to see the pictures of him she had placed inside, all the little notes she wrote to him but never dared give. She may only be twelve years old but she had fallen in love with the High School hottie, but he would never feel the same.

She didn't normally sit by herself at lunch time. She may not be popular but there were other kids like her as well who normally stick together, such as Tails and a few of his friends. She had seen the two tailed fox and casually he had told her about Sonic being in detention for the remainder of lunch. When hearing his name again she had sat alone, not wanting to talk about him anymore. She felt as if the past two years of her life were just wasted, she didn't want to cry again.

The fork was in her hands but she found playing with her food was more appetising then actually eating it. Amy could hear the whispered of her name when people passed her, turns out what happens in School goes all around School. With a heavy sigh she tried to take her mind off it, telling herself to get over it, but it just hurt more.

All her prayers were soon answered though. She wanted a distraction, so when the well-known sexiest girl in the whole School stood before her with a hand on her hip and her glossy lips pouted cunningly, Amy had no other reason than to cry with shock, all her thoughts now onto the white bat and not the blue hedgehog.

Rouge the bat laughed with slight amusement as the pink girl placed a hand on her beating heart. "You scared me!" she complained before realising she had knocked her bottle of water over and went to correct it. "Well that wasn't nice, I'm not that bad looking" the older girl joked, sending a small wink to which Amy didn't understand. The bat girl was older then Sonic by two years, and it was no secret that the two had dated not so long ago, until the problems came up such as the age difference. Despite it not being a large gap the teachers interfered with Sonic being younger then the legal age and her being above. It was messy, her parents and Sonic's Uncle had to get involved. That was nearly seven months ago… and there she went again thinking about Sonic while the coolest girl clearly wanted to talk to her.

Shaking her head side to side, Amy cleared her mind and stared at the beautiful bat, "Can I help you with something?" she asked trying to be formal, though she inwardly cringed feeling like a fool. Rouge chuckled to herself before taking a seat in front of the young hedgehog and making herself comfortable, showing she wasn't leaving any time soon. "Look I'm gonna cut the crap with you and just get right into it okay" she said smoothly which made Amy feel nervous. "I saw what happened today. I then heard about it from several people and saw the photo on SpaceBook" with what she said Amy's cheeks went red with embarrassment and threw her face into her hands, "It's on SpaceBook?" she cried out, the bat girl simply nodded. "Look, bottom line is Sonic is a jerk okay. He was a jerk to me and now he's a jerk to you."

With her face lifting slowly, Amy's eyes widened in surprise at the girl's words, "W-what do you mean he was a jerk to you? I thought you two really liked each other" as soon as the words left her lips she wished she'd kept her mouth shut. Rouge stared at her, her big sparkling eyes now wide and almost angry. It wasn't long into her face turned to a scowl, "I thought so two sweetie, but turns out Big Blue's one weakness is pretty red heads" she said spitefully, her head nudging towards the brown chipmunk that sat at the popular table. She paid no attention to either of them but was staring at her phone, probably talking to Sonic or hoping he'd secretly text her.

"No!" Amy gasped, stunned at the piece of gossip. She had never known the blue hedgehog to be the cheating type, it actually hurt her more. Rouge simply nodded, "Yep. I know we had problems and all…" her voice trailed and she took a deep breath, making the pink girl wonder if she still hurt from it all, "but instead of fighting for our relationship, he took the quickest escape he could get. That was making out with the Princess who was 'His Age'" she explained, quoting the words he had used. Amy's eyes looked back to her food, even though she wasn't even involved she felt guilty for just liking him now. Was he really that bad? "I had no idea…" she muttered lowly.

Seeing the look upon her face, Rouge did everything to keep her smile from growing wider. "Well needless to say, I wasn't happy. Unfortunately red heads aren't his only weakness. Little golden boy would do anything to keep his Uncle happy" the bat placed her elbow onto the table and cupped the side of her cheek, watching the twelve year old intently and waiting with expecting eyes. She got what she wanted when the girl nodded. She was neighbours with the fast boy, she had seen how close he was with his Uncle, it made perfect sense to her, and it was what Rouge needed her to think. With a deep sigh Rouge adjusted the top of her jump suit, "Too bad really, because I often thought good ol' Chuck would have loved his nephew to be with the cute little neighbour girl. Someone younger" she gritted her teeth, remembering how displeased the old hedgehog was when Sonic introduced them both.

"After what he did to me today? Absolutely not! You heard what Sonic said, he told me to stop stalking him and get a makeover! I am done with him!" the pink hedgehog shouted angrily. She didn't know what Rouge had intended but the girl wanted nothing to do with the jerk next door anymore, she wanted to wipe her hands clean of him. Rouge didn't seem fazed by her outburst, "Well exactly, that's what I'm saying. It would be a shame if the old man found out" she said slyly. With a raised brow Amy felt herself calm down, "You mean tell him?"

With a sparkle in her eyes, Rouge's lips curved seductively, "Better. Take his advice then when he wants you the most… let the old man find out for himself."

"What? You mean… let him find out about today?" her small heart was pounding, with excitement or horror she didn't know. Rouge was looking far too merciless for it to be anything light hearted, "You could, but you see rumours start fast through the smallest of actions. All it would take is a bruise to the face for a boyfriend's reputation to fall and then we'll see who his Uncle accuses."

Maybe she didn't think it through, or maybe she was on the time of the month… Or maybe she had just suffered the worst heart break from the hands of the only boy she ever loved. Whatever the reason, when Rouge held out her hand, Amy stared at it in anger before reaching out for it and taking a hold. The deal was sealed.

**XxX**

The music had never stopped. For the whole hour it had blasted throughout the room, each note getting higher and higher which would normally send a horrid ringing through his ears, wishing they would just bleed already. This didn't happen this time. He didn't think about the music, even though he knew it would now haunt him forever. He felt that sound wasn't around him anymore, it was blocked out with the sound of his hiccupping breath whenever he breathed, getting caught in his dried out throat. All he could taste was dust, drying his mouth out completely. Those were just some of the problems; the only thing he could really focus on was his back. The horrible agony, it burned all over his small frail frame where every time he breathed deeply to keep the loud sob from escaping past his lips, his body would jerk which sent a fresh flash of pain to wave over him. To look at it was worse; despite his deep cobalt fur tedious red scaring could be seen all over. In lines that resembled whip lashes, he had a few cuts that no longer bled. Worst of all with his fur hiding most of it to a degree, some arears were not so lucky as patches of missing fur showed how badly irritated his skin really was. Raw blisters, scars and bruises lined everywhere, not a piece of his back with missing either one. It wasn't just his back though; the back of his arms showed the scars that his fur hid.

The classroom had been reassembled. When satisfied the teacher had let him fall to the ground. He was in too much pain to stand or to take the rag from his mouth, so she left him to scream. No one could hear him. She didn't watch him curl into a ball and shake in fear and agony, but she went to the desks and straightened them, placing them right. She had opened up all the blinds apart from the one on the door, she didn't unlock it either. She kept the music as it was. Looking at the clock she saw they still had half an hour left and it was after all detention. So walking up the boy again, she forced him onto his feet by locking her arms around his waist, his back pressing tightly into her harsh clothes causing another cry of pain. To helpless to fight, he had no option but to let her place him onto a chair in the very centre of the room. He kept his head down and held tightly onto his arms, his whimpers only audible when she untied the rag.

He had begged her to leave him alone, his breathing ragged and his eyes streaming with tears, but he refused to look at her. So she reached her hand out and gripped his chin tightly, her claws piercing him, he was forced to look at her then.

So there he was, sitting at a desk, a pencil in his hand and a piece of white paper with lines. A hundred lines saying the same thing;

'Worthless, hated and alone'

She had him write that a hundred times, knowing the more he wrote it, the more he saw it than the more he'd believe it.

He couldn't write though, his hand shook too much for it to resemble anything and the lines he had already written were washed away from the tears that fell from his muzzle. He wasn't allowed the cry though, he wasn't to make a noise or it would happen again. She had warned him and this time he was going to listen. That didn't mean that the tears stopped falling, or that his lips quivered or his body shook when he tried to hold himself together. He sat broken and no one had helped him.

The teacher sat her desk, seemingly lost in a book that she held in one hand, while the other held a small wooden ruler which she liked to hit against the table, creating a loud crack as she did it in time with the music. With every beat her eyes would flicker to the boy who jerked in fear from the horrid noise. The only noise that interrupted both of them was the sound of the bell ringing loudly throughout the halls. They both looked up to the clock that was above the door, seeing the time was right. Snapping her book shut the Science teachers eyes fixed onto the blue hedgehog who stared right back at her, she showed no emotion to him whereas he bit onto his bottom lip to keep himself from crying or screaming, he no longer knew what he was going to do, he just wanted to run away and never come back. But she had the key.

Sitting herself up from her chair, the teacher turned off the music and picked up Sonic's purple hoodie. With every advancing step she made to him, Sonic's head would raise higher to keep eye contact while he tried to push himself as far away from her without hurting his back more.

Her brow was furrowed down and she dropped his hoodie on his desk, "Put it on" she ordered, her voice deep and commanding. He blinked at her, just a few times but finally broke his pleading gaze, looking down at the garment. His shaky hands reached out enough to pick it up but when he tried to place it over his head, the pain in his back intensified from trying to bring his arms up. His entire body went into lock down, he felt he couldn't move his arms, legs or neck. All he could do was tremble without wanting to scream.

It was too hard to do so when he gave a harsh cry and dropped his arms back on the table, feeling he had given up. The teacher crossed her arms and waited. She had the key.

Knowing there was no other option, he bit down on his lip again, trying not to make another sound but with a forced back groan he held up his arms, audible clicks of his joints were heard clearly when he raised his arms into the air and pushed the hoodie over his head, pulling the bottom of it down so it covered every scar he had. The materiel hurt so badly, it rubbed and clung onto loose skin.

When it was finally on, Sonic looked back at her pleadingly. He was so desperate but too scared say anything to her. Speak when spoken too, that's was one of the things she said.

Turning her head towards the door, the teacher listened to see if any of her students had arrived yet, normally being able to hear them talk outside the room, but there were only a couple. She had time.

Turing back to the hedgehog, he still struggled to breath and the only reason tears were no longer falling from his eyes was because he did everything to fight them back. He was still trembling, his eyes red and irritated while his lips quivered. He never made a word; she had to make sure it stayed like that.

From the deathly silence between the two, her hands suddenly slammed against the desk, causing the hedgehog to hunch down further, "Now… I finally have your attention" she seethed, her teeth gritted together so much that every word she spoke made her hiss like the snake she resembled. Sonic looked up at her once again, not making a sound, but holding back another whimper when her eyes narrowed at his, "You will listen to me this time. This is what years of your attitude have done. This is all a result of you. I know what you're thinking, who to tell first now doubt?"

With panic Sonic choked on his own breath. Yes, yes that was what he had been waiting for all this time. As soon as he got out he would tell everyone! But she knew… There was no worry and she knew… "P-please" he whispered in a broken voice, but like a whip she lashed her hand into the air, holding the back of her open hand into the air as a threat. Gasping, Sonic placed his hand over his lips, showing he was silent. With a controlling smile, she lowered hers. "Good. Now let's go through our options shall we?" she leaned down until her face was no higher up then his, and wasn't all that far away. Fear of what she was going to say stopped him from pushing away.

"I know what you'll do; first you'd go to Robotnik. You'll think when he heard of this he'd inform the police who will come to arrest me and I'd lose my job and end up in prison. Let's face it though; the man is as fond of you as I am. Without any evidence he won't give you the time of day" she mused. For the first time that hour, Sonic grew angry at her. She wanted a challenge, she was getting one, "Every classroom has a security camera, all I'd have to do is get him to watch" he spat, his body still trembled violently but it looked more from anger then pain.

The teacher stood up, a look showing how little she was impressed with his reasoning, "My camera has been offline for a while now" she mused. Sonic looked down at his desk, his heart beating desperately while his head spun. His eyes were once again welling up when hearing her break his hope apart. "Now, let's say you tell your friends. I know how School works, you think you can trust your friends but what good will it do? All it takes is one person to know before everyone knows. Don't think I don't know about your days at the orphanage" the moment she spoke those words, Sonic's head shot up and he stared at her with horror. How did she know? "Yes I know, I know a lot about my students. I know that you're not as tough as you make out to be, I saw that for myself. How do you suppose it would look? The School bully got beat around by an old woman!" her voice grew louder and bitter when her hand slapped the table, causing him to shrink down, "Know this Sonic. The moment this gets out there is nothing to stop children older than you, stronger than you, from doing as they please. You have many enemies around here; the only thing that keeps you safe is your precious reputation. Would you risk it? Hmm?"

He shook his head slowly, this time being unable to look at her as fresh tears fell from his tightly shut eyes. He placed his hands to his ears, no longer being able to take it. He felt like he was going insane, her words were running through his mind, each breaking his sanity knowing through it all she was right. Too many people wanted to hurt him, but didn't dare… but now… if they knew… Shadow…

"Your final option, telling your Uncle" with hearing that word the blue hedgehog opened his eyes; she had his complete attention, though he rocked himself back and forth. "If you tell your Uncle then he will go to Robotnik. Again, I may lose my job, but you will lose your family. What do you think he'll say when the Principle shows him your file? All the records of your past activities…"

His eyes slowly lifted and he stared at her, still rocking back and forth and his hands tight upon his ears.

"Such things as… the boy you punched. The girl you pushed down the stairs for being in your way. The time you stole money from the Teachers desk…"

"No!" Sonic cried out, his hands no longer on his ears but firm on the desk and instead of rocking himself he stood up desperately, pain rushing through his legs. "N-no you can't!" he pleaded. The teacher stood straight and started to circle him, "What about when you broke that boys nose while playing football, or the girl you bullied online uploading photos of her and naming her fat?"

He cupped his face in his hands, shaking his head rapidly, "S-stop, p-please just stop!"

She stopped in front of him once again, "More importantly, why don't we just tell him about the drugs we found in your backpack?"

His heart stopped. Every part of his body trembled as he fell to his knees. Not knowing what else to do he grabbed her. His head rested upon her legs and he held onto her, tears streaming from his face, "please… p-please I'm begging you, i-it wasn't l-like that… i-it wasn't m-mine… please…"

So there he was. The biggest bully of the whole School on his knees, crying, suffering, humiliated and begging… The teacher smiled.

With her hands she held onto the sides of his face and pushed him back, forcing her to stare at him, "The only reason your Uncle knows none of this is because of his history with Robotnik, you and I both know that. I have given you the options and have told you the consequences; the rest is up to you now. Just note, the next time you back answer me, humiliate me, show me up or draw _incriminating pictures of me…" _she had spat, Sonic tried to defend himself, wanted to scream it wasn't who drew it, but she silenced him, "This is the detention you get. If you want to carry on through the year comfortably, then Be-Have Your-Self!" with the cry of her voice, her hand once again raised high only this time is came down and slapped across Sonic's cheek, sending him to the ground.

Watching him hold his face which slowly turned red, she left him to wallow in his own pity. She picked up his bag and threw it at him where he lay. She heard a loud noise of students talking among themselves from outside of the classroom, when looking at the clock she had realized she kept her students waiting for five minutes.

Ignoring the boy who painfully struggled to push himself up and grab his bag, she walked to the door, finally opening the blind. Her hand reached down her top and she retrieved the key. Placing it in the lock she looked back at the boy who stared longingly at the door, "Remember what I said hedgehog. It's time you knew I was serious."

With that she unlocked the door.

There was not a moment wasted, desperation forced him to use his abnormal speed. The moment that door was opened he ran, ran and ran, not knowing what else to do. Students stared after him but he didn't care, no one could see him like this!

Only fate was cruel. Just he turned the corner which would lead him to the exit doors; he failed to notice the body that stood in his way. Had it not been for the persons strength the impact of his speed would have sent both of them to the ground, but because the echidna was used to his great speed, his strong arms had caught him and stopped him from falling down. It was just a second but that was longer then was needed. "Where you been? We waited ages for you outside. We're bunking off you wanna…" he couldn't carry on. His large hands gripped tightly onto Sonic's arms stopping from escaping. The red echidna had seen him how he was. He saw the way his best friend's body trembled, he saw the red irritation upon his face and he saw the tears that fell from his eyes.

The second had passed, and Sonic panicked. Kicking his friend harshly in the stomach, Knuckles was forced to let him go, dropping to his knees completely winded.

While the echidna groaned in pain, Sonic ran through the exit door leaving nothing but a gush of wind behind him while the double doors slammed again the walls.

Neither hedgehog or echidna saw, but another figure was soon following Sonic's tracks, running past the red teenager and following the fastest thing alive through the exit doors. The only thing Knuckles heard was the sound of small footsteps running past him, the last thing he saw were two tails leaving the building

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><p><strong>Woop background stories and cliffhangers, just what everyone loves yaay.<strong>

**Anyway I hope you guys liked it, please leave me a review cus I really love hearing what people think, or whether it's worth carrying on with.**

**So yeah see you next time, if you have any suggestions please let me know and if I use it I'll give you a shout out :)**

**I don't write slash or things like that... just tragic abuse... oh lordie. Anyway, please review and see you next time!**


	4. Strange Day

**Let me just say: LONGEST CHAPTER EVER!**

**Whew, anyway I wanna thank everyone who reviewed, it was so awesome to hear you guys liked the story. Yes it's pretty dark but this chapter lightens things up a little.**

**Also to Ghostkid33 thanks for the review and sorry it made you cry ^^ But now you have the answer of who was following Sonic yaay.**

**I can't help but do Sonic and Tails fluff, I love their friendship so it's hard to keep them hating each other, but even though the summery says Sonic is mean to Tails let me just say... The story aint over yet ;)**

**Anyway I hope you enjoy the chapter**

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><p>Following him had seemed like a good idea at first, but how do you keep up with the fastest kid alive? Panting, the young fox nearly fell to his knees. He took a moment to stop and catch his breath before his baby blue eyes darted around, looking for any clue as to where he could be. There wasn't really anywhere he could go to unless he left School ground; he certainly wasn't going to look for him then, but other than that… His eyes drifted to the small football stadium that was the main attraction of the School. It was often used for practise by the sport stars, always before a big game. Though as far as he knew it wasn't being used… Placing his hand to his chin, he narrowed his eyes in thought. Looking to the nearby trees that surrounded him none of them moved, yet the ones nearer the stadium blew around from a strong force before settling down. He found him.<p>

The field was empty, no gear or nets were out or ready for use. All practice was going to be tomorrow, all the players got three lessons off for it. It was going to be the biggest game of their lives, the coach had informed them some of the top University reps were going to be there looking for talent so they had to be at their best.

Right now he couldn't care less about that stupid game.

Completely alone and isolated Sonic sat in the bleachers. His knees curled up his chest and his hands gripped the sides of his head as his whole body trembled. This time he was completely alone, there was no one to keep him quiet. With everything he had left in him he screamed, did nothing more than just scream. Tears fell down his muzzle and normally he would quickly wipe them away, but this time he didn't care, he freely let them fall from his face. No one saw him cry, no one saw the look of desperation on his face as he begged; for what he didn't know. All he could do was plead for something, even though he was alone.

His back was in blistering pain as the harsh itchy material scratched at his scars which only made him want to take it off and throw it away, but even though he was alone he was too afraid someone would see.

The young fox hadn't known any of this. All he saw as he climbed up the stairway was Sonic the Hedgehog sitting in the middle of the bleaching and he did was scream. He wasn't sure of what to do… Sonic was the biggest bully in the whole School, no one could take him, so disturbing him may result in being thrown into a dust bin. On the other hand though, leaving him just felt like he was no better. With a nervous breath, the boy forced his feet forward as quietly as possible. When walking onto the row of seats he had expected to be noticed, but he wasn't. Sonic's eyes were shut tight and he was too loud to her the fox's small footsteps. This didn't make the butterflies go away as he was just an arm's reach away and he was still unseen. Looking around he felt he couldn't back out. Loud pitiful sobs were enough to echo around the stadium so naturally he almost fell back in shock when the fifteen year old gasped and snapped to face him after the boy quietly cleared his throat.

Using the seats as a support, he watched Sonic's red puffy eyes glare down at him in anger while he used the back of his sleeve to rub his muzzle dry. When he spoke his voice was broken and whispery, but clear enough to still sound intimidating, "What the hell are you doing here you little freak?!" he spat. Tails shuffled his feet, looking down he felt too afraid to answer him. Seeing he wasn't getting a response, the hedgehog looked away and fell deep into his chair, ignoring the pain it cause, and crossed his arms over his chest, holding himself together as much as he could. He could feel his breath jerk harshly as he tried to recover himself, but he just couldn't get a hold of his emotions. He was left whimpering with tears in his eyes while being watched by the two tailed freak. It just kept getting worse.

Knowing there was nothing more he could do, he shut his eyes once again and dipped his head, "Just go" he whispered, another tear falling into his arms.

Tails looked up from his feet, and for the first time since he had met him, he felt pity towards him. A part of him wanted to just do as he was told and forget all about it, another part wanted to take a photo and show everyone that the hedgehog wasn't immortal… but most of all he wanted to help. So instead he walked closer, set his bag down next to Sonic's and sat not that far away from him. Even though the fifteen year old didn't open his eyes, he growled lowly in irritation, it was simply ignored.

With his hands clasped together and his thumbs twirling, Tails's eyes flickered around, "Umm… I wanted to talk to you… at lunch, but you got detention so…" as his thoughts trailed off, he became silent, his eyes fixed in shock and worry as the hedgehog whimpered sorrowfully when placing his hand to his mouth, trying to keep himself together. Choking on his breath again he wiped his eyes once more and turned his head away, not wanting the younger child to see him like this.

Not knowing how to respond, Tails hesitated but placed a nervous hand on the older boy's arm, unsure if it would give any comfort at all, but he wasn't pushed away, and that was victory enough. "I-I… I don't know what h-happened… but I'm not gonna ask" the fox stated. Fortunately it might have been what Sonic wanted to hear, because he seemed to settle down a little bit after that, but he still wouldn't look at him. "I-it's just… Well the Science project, we've been asked to work together and…"

"Oh grow up Tails, what the hell do I care about some stupid Science project that I'd let you talk to me during lunch!" the blue teens harsh words came at a little surprise, but he finally looked at the two tailed fox who quickly took his hand away from his arm. "Yeah but… it's important" the kid tried to defend, Sonic simply laughed bitterly, "I don't freaking care how important it is, I don't want anything to do with that project. I don't want to impress the stupid teacher with pathetic crap that means nothing to me!" Sonic had yelled angrily, his voice had been just as loud as it was when he was screaming and sounded similar, only this time it was with words. "What the hell is Science going to do for me? Huh? Why should I have to go through it, I haven't done anything! It's not fair!" he cried out, burying his face into his knees.

Tails remained silent not knowing how to make sense of what he heard. He knew he didn't understand what was wrong, he wanted to ask so badly but knew he wouldn't get the answer; instead he'd probably shot away, and despite how awkward the situation was he didn't want to leave. Playing with the cuffs of his gloves, he bravely spoke up "Sonic…" he started, only to realise he didn't know what to say that would be right, so he just had to say anything, "Are you going back to class? I think we're in math" he looked down at his watch and saw that they were late by fifteen minutes. It wouldn't go down well, and they really shouldn't waist anymore time.

Sonic didn't seem to care though as he shook his head side to side. His breathing slowly steadied and other then the stains on his muzzle there were no signs of anymore tears. He held the side of his temple and rubbed it, feeling a headache come on. "I'm not going back" he sniffed lowly. With a nervous stare, Tails felt anxious, "But why?" he blurted out. "I'm just not! And I'm not going in tomorrow either" the hedgehog said, taking the final word as he stared at the football field. He didn't want all his team seeing his back.

"Well… what are you gonna do?" the yellow fox asked, his response was a shrug of the shoulders, "I dunno… but I got three hours to kill now" the hedgehog breathed, seemingly a lot calmer now. His voice sounded normal while his trembling had stopped, Tails wondered if it was because he wasn't talking about Science anymore. Then suddenly it hit him like a ton of bricks, and he realised what the problem was. "Sonic… are you worried about failing Science?"

The moment he spoke those words, Sonic stared at him completely bewildered. Was he serious? Was he freaking serious right now? Was failing Science such a disaster for the nerd that he'd believe Sonic the hedgehog would be having a mental break down over it? He wanted nothing more than to tell him the truth, tell him the real reason he was out here and tell him why his favourite teacher was nothing more than manipulative bitch… but he couldn't. Maybe it was better for him to believe he was scared of failing instead of telling the truth. Her word's kept ringing in his mind… all it takes is one person to know.

So instead of fighting back, he huffed, "Yep… how'd you know?" he said almost sarcastically. Tails smiled, feeling he was finally getting somewhere now, plus he knew everything about Science so maybe he could even help. "It's a big deal. I know you haven't been doing so well with your grades so failing a class might result in not graduating, and that's scaring you aren't it?"

"Yes Tails, that's exactly it" the fifteen year old said flatly, not paying much attention anymore, Tails however wasn't catching on, "Sometimes Mrs Winter…" he stopped when Sonic raised his brow in confusion, "Our Science teacher. Sometimes she lets me stay after School and goes over things with me. I know you don't like her but she's a really good teacher, she's really nice. If you ask then maybe she'll let you stay back and-"

"Shut up, just shut up!" Sonic snapped as his hands clasped over his ears. He shut his eyes once again trying to force memories away. This time Tails did as told, too shy to say anything else now. His shoulders dropped in disappointment as he stared at the football pitch, a heavy sigh escaping his lips. He looked at his watch to see they were twenty minutes late, but he still didn't have the heart to leave.

Letting a small time of silence pass by, Sonic's ear twitched when the childish voice spoke up, "I'm scared of the big game" he mumbled. Turning his head down slightly, the blue hedgehog raised his brow. Seeing his gaze, the fox ran his hand threw his bangs shyly, his face beginning to flush, "Well everyone's older than me, and you guys get pretty rough… No one really wants me on the team and I'm scared of failing gym. The only way I can really pass this year is by getting extra credit."

He wasn't sure why, but Sonic felt his lips turn to a frown. He knew Tails was terrible at the game, he often liked to point it out in the locker rooms after practice, but hearing it from the kids own mouth… it wasn't as satisfying as he thought it would be, that and to hear the kid might be held back… made him feel a bit sorry.

With a deep sigh, Sonic pushed himself up from his chair, tensing from the pain that shot through his back, but he managed. Reaching down he picked up his bag and held it under his arm, Tails shortly did the same, "Are you going back to class?" the kid asked hopefully. With a small laugh, Sonic smirked "I told you I'm not going back" with that he placed his hand to Tails's head and lightly pushed him aside to walk past. "B-but where are you going?" the fox called out as the teenager made his way to the exit.

He paused for a moment, then turned back and looked at the fox who stared at him with big blue eyes full of curiosity. "I got to get a few things…" he answered. The eight year old had expected him to leave at that point, so he looked down to the floor sadly, his twin tails curling around his feet.

There was nothing more than shock in his eyes when he heard the hedgehog's voice once again. "You coming or not?"

**XxX**

There was no way Tails could have ever imagined this day would come. No matter how many times he worked it out in his mind, the odds of this occurring had less chance then a black hole swallowing them all up in a matter of seconds. Yet here he was, in the middle of the Grand Mall… bunking off School with Sonic the Hedgehog. This had to be the strangest day of his life.

Sonic however couldn't care less. Bunking off School had never been such a big deal to him, often he and his friends, mostly Knuckles and Silver, would skip class and come here to hang out. The girls sometimes joined them but not often. He did enjoy it when they did though, however they had to avoid some shops or else they'd be reported for skipping School. Out of all times he had left though, he had never left by himself; he always had at least one person with him. Now out of all times the last thing he wanted was to be with his friends, yet he couldn't bear to be alone. He didn't want his teacher's words to be true.

So there they both sat side by side, him and the School nerd, on the edge of the large fountain that centred in the Grand Mall. Instead of shouting and cowering like yellow fox had once thought, Sonic was actually being pretty cool to him. The hedgehog hadn't had his lunch and was pretty hungry, so they had got something from the Hot dog stand. He had ordered five chilly dogs whereas Tails passed, he had already eaten, and he didn't really have any money on him. A couple of hours had already passed by; they just needed another hour before they could go home. When they first arrived Sonic had dragged him to the video game shop, then a couple of computer stores. He was picking up a few spare parts that he didn't really know what they were, but he had a list with him so Tails had helped him out there. The shop they spent the most time in was the clothing department. For some reason Sonic had dragged him straight to the Men's jackets and hoodies and it wasn't long for the eight year old to get incredibly bored.

Sonic either didn't notice or didn't care, he had been too busy looking through all the different jackets, and every time he found one he liked the looked of he would always check for what the material was like inside, especially on the back, and every time he kept saying it was too harsh. Tails hadn't really known Sonic to be so picky, he didn't even wear jackets normally but suddenly now he did, and knowing what everyone was like pretty soon every guy in School would start wearing jackets. At one point he got so bored he could have sworn he saw Amy and Rouge looking at dresses on the other side of the store. Eventually Sonic had found the one he wanted, and finally they could leave once he purchased a few of them in different colours and all in a size S.

Now they had a chance to relax a little after walking around. Sonic was on his last chilly dog, wolfing it down quickly. There wasn't much banter between the two though, in fact other than talking video games and computer parts they didn't seem to talk at all, apart from Tails complaining about skipping School; though if he didn't stop Sonic said he'd push him in the fountain and hold him down. Now Tails sat quietly and watched the other eat. His feet dangled above the ground and sometimes he would gaze down at his brown shoes.

"How can you eat so many?" he mumbled as the teen licked the sauce off his fingers. Sonic looked at him and paused which kept his finger in his mouth, making the younger of the two laugh a little. Smiling he continued, "Got a fast metabolism, gotta eat about six thousand calories a day just to avoid health problems" he explains, recalling what his Uncle had told him, it was no wonder he used to be skin and bone. Tails looked fascinated, "Wow, that's really interesting, too bad we weren't working on biology or else we could have studied the theory behind your speed and how your body coped with such a high friction and-"

"Will you quit already? I told you I'm not some lab rat you can run tests on" the hedgehog growled, causing Tails stop and look down, "S-sorry, I'm just interested is all" he mumbled, only Sonic scoffed at him, "Yeah well you don't see me asking to look at your double rear end all day just to work out how you spin those things without getting them tangled up now do ya?"

Not really knowing how to respond, he decided to say nothing at all. Due to this things started to feel awkward, and both could tell. Tails didn't look at the hedgehog and he couldn't help but feel a little bad about it, so taking a deep breath he spoke "I just… I hate feeling different" he admitted, much to Tails's surprise. Expecting the kid to ask more questions or point out that that was just how the hedgehog made him feel, he felt confused when all he received was a small smile. "How about we agree to not mention it anymore? I won't ask about your speed and you don't make fun of me for having two tails" with that Tails reached out an open palm. Sonic grinned in amusement at how serious the kid was being, but reached out a hand and took his, they shook.

"Alright kiddo, now that's out the way, where to next?" the blue blur asked while standing up from the fountain, this time with less pain which he was happy about. Tails jumped off as well and picked up the bags, even though they weren't his. His young eyes looked all around, they did have another hour to go after all, but there wasn't much that interested… him…

"Well there's not really much else to look at, so how about we head for the arcade…" Sonic's voice trailed as he spoke to the other, only when he looked down he noticed that neither Tails nor his bags were next to him anymore. "Tails?" he called out, looking around but he couldn't see him anyway. "Tails where are you?" he tried again, starting to feel a little bit worried. He wandered around a little, keeping his eyes peeled back for the kid, but it wasn't until he saw a kid with two tails run past an aisle that he dropped his shoulders in relief before following.

How found it strange that the kid had suddenly ran into the Sport's Gear shop, but he figured he was probably looking for something to help him in the big game, not that there was much he could do, the kid pretty much sucked. Looking all around he was taken back when he found the young animal standing in the kid's shoe department sitting down on a padded bench and staring up longingly at what had to be the most expensive shoes in the store; and this was a pretty expensive store.

Walking to his side, Tails hardly flinched when he heard a small whistle behind him, "Light Speed shoes huh? Never thought you'd be the Brand name type" the hedgehog remarked, he tapped the top of his foot on the floor a couple of times to emphasise that those were the same make shoes he was currently wearing. Tails did look at his shoes, the swayed red with a white strap and golden buckle were the coolest shoes the brand had to offer. Rumours had gone round that the reason no one could get those kind of shoes was because Sonic had them custom made, meaning his family was rich; probably why he could spend so much on jackets. But as cool as they were, they weren't the ones Tails wanted. He looked back up to the shoes on display; a few small lights giving it a spotlight appearance while a big poster of a Raccoon wearing the shoes while standing on a mountain. They were the same swayed material as Sonic's, all the Light Speed shoes were, but while have the shoe was red the front of them were a dazzling white with a grey durable sole on the bottom of them.

Tails placed his chin in his palms and sighed longingly at them, "They're so cool" he couldn't help but mumble. Sonic sat down next to him, looking at the shoes as well. They had been out for a while now but the price hadn't gone down much, it was still in the triple figures. "Why don't you just get them?" he shrugged, Tails however looked at him dumbfounded, "I can't afford them" he answered flatly. Sonic still didn't seem to find the problem, "Well then just save up for them. You get money of your folk's right?"

The eight year old looked down sadly, "They don't get that much money, so anything I do get I save it up for electronics and scraps for my machines" he explained. Simply nodding his head, Sonic still didn't seem that interested. "Do you work?" the kid asked, getting Sonic's attention again as he didn't like the silence. Scratching his head, the teen looked down at his bag of expensive jackets now feeling a bit embarrassed he had spent so much in front of the kid, "Not really, but I get an allowance. I don't really buy much so it saved up over the years" he said. Tails raised his brow curiously, "You live with your Uncle right? What does he do?"

Sonic had felt his stomach turn a little, thinking that the fox was going to start asking about his parents, luckily that hadn't been his intent at all which made him relax a little, "He used to be… well he still is really, he's an inventor. He used to work for the king years ago, I think he was the Minister of Science or something like that, he used to be partners with Principal Robitnik-"

"Oh my gosh! Are you telling me your Uncle is Sir Charles the Hedgehog?!" Tails's shouted excitedly which caused a few on goers to stare. Sonic looked at him uneasily, "Ugh… I think so. I know him as Chuck…"

"I can't believe it! Your Uncle is the greatest Scientist alive! His work is incredible; did you know he actually discovered a way to convert natural matter into food? Or that he managed to conduct an ongoing fuel source using nothing but water and a compressor?" the child rambled on and on. Sonic had lost him a while back. Truthfully he didn't know much about his Uncles work as it never interested him, only now it seemed like he was somewhat of an idol in Tails's eyes.

Raising his hands to get the kid to stop talking, he interrupted him before the kid lost his breath, "Slow down kid, you're getting a little too excited" he laughed. Tails looked at him bashfully, "Sorry, but I'm just a huge fan" he squealed, though finally calmed down. "Yeah I can see that" the older boy laughed again. He couldn't help but smile, it was nice to see someone who admired his Uncle, especially as his Uncle didn't really get to go out much now days. He didn't even work as an inventor, just did it as a hobby. It made him realise that Tails actually had a lot in common with his Uncle… heck they might even get on really well. Then before he knew he was talking from the heart, not even thinking about School or his reputation anymore, "If you want to meet him then why don't you come over to mine tomorrow after School?"

Tails had completely frozen. Did he ask him to his house? Was this seriously happening? The words kept playing in his mind but he didn't understand them. This whole day had been so strange he didn't even know if he was dreaming at this point, it would make more sense.

Sonic could see that Tails hadn't expected that from him, he resembled too much of a dear caught in headlights, so he waved his hand over Tails's eyes to get the shy reaction from him "Y-you want me to come to your house?" he stuttered. The blue hedgehog chuckled lightly, "Well yeah that's what I said. Sides we gotta work on that… project thing so might as well as my Unc to help out right?" he reasoned, though he found he couldn't bring himself to say Science without getting tense.

Tails looked ready to drop he was in so much shock, but he couldn't hold back the wide smile that was spreading across his face, "Y-yeah, I'd love too!" he cried out, Sonic gave him the thumbs up, which coming from him was a big deal. Why was he doing this? Was it because he followed him when he was upset? Maybe he saw he was trying to help… did this mean they were friends? He never had real friends before, especially no one as cool as Sonic! With a friend like him no one would pick on him anymore.

All Tails wanted to do was grab the blue hedgehog and thank him again and again, but he wanted to look cool, so instead he cleared his throat and shrugged his shoulders "I mean, yeah that would be cool" he muttered, looking back at the shoes. Sonic saw through the act easily though, it really amused him. He then looked back at the shoes that Tails loved so much, only to look at the ones he was wearing; brown, ripped and laced up. No one wore laces anymore, they were so lame, and these looked too small for him as well. Could his parents not afford any new shoes for him at all?

With a tug of his lips Sonic stood and picked up the precious shoes before handing them to the child who was reluctant to take them, "Sonic what-" "Try them on!" he urged, not letting him protest. Staring at them with want, Tails eventually took them sadly. They felt so smooth and now he was actually holding them, but he could never afford them. It was bittersweet when he took off his old worn out shoes and placed the new Light Speeds on his felt. They felt so gooood! The material was a perfect fit and the padding was comfortable. They're said to be the strongest shoes going as well, Sonic was pretty much evidence of that. Now they were on his feet, he stood and walked around in them. Why? Why did they have to be so good? It was like having a pillow on each foot, and they felt warm yet breathable. He never wanted to take them off.

Turning towards Sonic he wanted to get an opinion on how they looked, but the hedgehog was near the accessories. He was picking up a couple of things; they were all bangles and bands to put on your wrists over gloves. Looking through he picked up two small black bands and smiled at the fact they stretched out. Turning back to the fox that had fallen in love with the shoes, he grabbed the child's hands and before the fox realised he slid the bands on either wrist. When seeing his look complete, Sonic smiled widely, placing his hands on the child's shoulders and turning him to look in the mirror. Tails was amazed at how much of a difference shoes and bands actually made, he looked so different and Sonic was by his side. "Now that is one cool dude" the hedgehog grinned, proudly leaning his arm on Tails shoulder.

Tails didn't want to ever leave that spot again. In that mirror stood the fastest thing alive, most popular boy in School, admired by everyone and the football star, and next to him stood a young two Tailed fox who was actually wanted, who was asked to be by his side, and here they looked like they had been best friends for years. He wanted that reflection to be his life so badly…

But it wasn't.

With a questioning look, Sonic watched as the eight year old walked away from the mirror and sat back down. Miserably he took the bands off his wrists and placed the on the side. He was sadder about taking off the shoes and having to place his old ones back on, now once again looking like the nerd he was. While he loved it, he Sonic hadn't of asked him to try them on, because now he had a moment of false hope that should never have been there.

He hunched over and sighed, looking at those shoes. "What's up?" he heard Sonic ask when he approached him, only Tails sighed looking more upset "I can't afford them" he repeated.

"Yeah I know"

Looking up slowly, he watched as Sonic reached down for both the shoes and picked up the bangles. He had thought he was putting them back, but instead he carried them over to the check out. "Sonic what are you doing?" he gasped, quickly following the older boy worried that Sonic was trying to get him to spend what he didn't have. With horror he started panicking when the young lady took the items from the teen and scanned them through the check out. "Sonic I told you I can't afford them" he whined, grabbing onto the hedgehog's sleeves hoping he would listen to him. To his horror the cashier spoke up and told them the amount of rings it had all come to, and it was enough to send him pale, "I-I can't pay it, I-I…"

But there was no need for him to carry on protesting. Sonic had taken his wallet from out his bag and pulled out his credit card before handing it to the woman. The young fox was just speechless when he watched the whole thing, it was like a play happening in front of him, it just couldn't be real. Yet Sonic took the carrier bag that held the famous shoes inside and thanked the woman before stepping aside to let the next person be served.

He kept so cool about the whole thing that Tails was bewildered by that alone, he just didn't understand what had happened, was he just buying it for someone his age maybe? Getting him to try them for size comparison? That would make more sense… that must have been it.

"S-Sonic?" he stammered, wanting to ask a million questions, but he was silent as Sonic reached out a hand took all the bags that the younger one was holding, all the things Sonic had brought from himself. When Tails was left with only his satchel he froze when the hedgehog handed him the new bag. "Here" he said so casually, as if the kids dream shoes weren't contained in that bag but something simple like a snack bar. Not really knowing how to respond, his shaky hand reached out and slowly accepted the gift. He was in such a shock that his mouth was starting to feel dry he hadn't closed it yet, he looked inside the bag, just to confirm that it was actually the shoes in there and not just a prank. But there it was; a small shoe box with a picture of the beloved shoes on the side, it was actually there… and it was his?

"This… for me?" he questioned, still not taking the hint much to Sonic's annoyance as the teen rolled his eyes, he felt like being sarcastic but thought the kid might not get it. "Well you carried my bags around all day, might as well have something for you to take home as well right?" he laughed. Suddenly he saw the kid look down, small whimpers coming from his lips, "Tails?" he placed a hand on the boys shoulder. The moment the fox felt his touch he couldn't contain it any longer. With a sharp cry he pounced at the hedgehog, wrapping his arms around his waist and squeezed him as hard as he could, not able to stop the large smile upon his face, "Oh Sonic thank you thank you thank you so much! I can't believe you.."

He had expected the other to respond, but he never expected the bone chilling scream that echoed around the store and grabbed the attention of everyone. "No stop stop! Tails let me go!" the hedgehog cried, grabbing the fox and pushing him away with enough force that nearly sent him to the floor. Looking at him with dread, Tails could see Sonic's hands go straight to his back, his whole face had twisted like he was in horrific pain and there were actual tears falling from his muzzle. "I-I'm so sorry" he tried to defend, worried not just for what the bully would do, but as to why a hug had hurt him so much in the first place.

Sonic wasn't listening though, instead he hissed through the pain until he could cope. His face went bright red when he rubbed the tears away from his muzzle quickly in embarrassment, knowing that a lot of people had seen them. His eyes darted around looking for anything to distract him and hopefully get rid of the unwanted attention. Only when he lay on the other side of the shop, he realised it wasn't just strangers who had been watching him.

"Oh no…" was all he could say, Tails looked behind and followed his stare. On the other side was Knuckles, Silver and Espio, all staring with their eyes wide and a look of disgust on their faces. Not only had they seen Sonic scream in pain, but they had watched him get the kid to try on those shoes and pay for them.

Dealing with them was the last thing Sonic wanted to do, so as fast he possibly could, he picked up all the bags that were dropped on the floor, throwing the shoes into Tails's arms and then grabbed the eight year old by his wrist. Using his speed he ran out of the shop and out of the Mall itself, leaving nothing but a gush of wind behind and three friends who wanted an explanation.

* * *

><p><strong>Yaay Tails got his shoes! But not without crushing Sonic and hurting his back, poor hedgie! But Le gasp! His friends ain't gonna be happy now!<strong>

**So to find out how it continues please leave a review (as they are the boot to kick my butt when it comes to updating) and please let me know how you think the story is going :)**

**Till next time xx**


	5. Lies

**A week without updating and it feels like it's been months, suppose that's a good thing. To top it off I consider this a short chapter and it has 4000 words! I think I'm losing it.**

**I big thank you to my reviewies! You guys are awesome and a reply to Guest- I don't think my fingers could cope with longer chapters but thought is lovely, thank you ^^**

**Anyways on with the story!**

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><p>Thanks to the unwanted attention, the two boys had made a quick break for the exit and didn't think twice about going back. There was still some time before School was officially out, but by walking home instead of running at impossible speeds, they could make it without a worry; though it didn't hurt to get an ice cream on the way.<p>

The hedgehog and fox walked slowly along the pavement, blissfully enjoying how peaceful it surprisingly was. Even with them walking down an avenue there was no traffic and no one outside of the homes, likely being they were either in School or at work. It was nice though, a nice simple walk. Also thanks to Sonic being the School idol Tails didn't feel so worried about the bullies that liked to follow him home. It really was a strange day.

Curiously Tails looked up to the blue hedgehog, they hadn't spoken much since they left but Tails had held onto his new shoes as if they were his life support. He was afraid of someone taking them and Sonic turning his back, but with his own thoughts spinning through his mind, the eight year old couldn't help but wonder what was going through Sonic's. He seemed distant, like he wasn't even there anymore, but just an empty shell walking around. Tails wanted to ask him, or just talk about something, anything to break him from his trance, but to his surprise Sonic spoke for the first time in a while.

"This where you live?" he asked suddenly, stopping just outside of a small quaint house that had plenty of garden growing around it and a small metal warehouse right next door. Tails couldn't help but feel stupid when he realised he was staring at his own home, wondering whether to say yes or no. So finally he got over his surprise and nodded his head, "Yeah it's mine… How did you know?" he asked curiously, how did the hedgehog know?

The lid of Sonic's eyes closed half way tiredly before a simple point of the metal warehouse was all the response Tails would get. "Oh" the kid mumbled before turning back to the hedgehog. They both stood a little while and Tails felt he needed to speak, "S-Sonic… I just wanna say… Thank you so much for today" he smiled shyly at the older boy. Sonic however looked at him questionably, "Umm… yeah okay" he simply stated, his eyes drifting away while his whole face seemed dull. He noticed and instantly Tails felt guilt and worry grew within him, he looked down to the floor and rubbed his hands together nervously, "I-I just uh…"

He was stopped shortly by the gloved hand that was held up in front of his face, "Look Tails… Don't worry about it, just enjoy the shoes alright" Sonic spoke, though his words were kind it sounded almost patronising to the young fox who could simply nod his head, smile no longer on his face. He watched the hedgehog sigh deeply before tiredly placing a hand to his forehead. Doing so made Tails realise how pale the other really was, almost sickly. He could only hope it wasn't from the hug he gave him before, but when he tried to ask Sonic shot him down, what was he to do? At least he didn't seem angry about it.

"Right… I'm going home" the teenager announced, before pushing past the youngster and starting on his journey. "W-wait! What about School tomorrow?" Tails cried out, not really happy about seeing the hedgehog walk away. Sonic hardly looked back but walked slower, "I told you I'm not going tomorrow. Come to my house at four!"

With that a flash of blue gushed by and Sonic stood there no longer, Tails was now just alone. A million thoughts were racing around his brain. No matter how many times he thought of it he didn't believe the events of today had actually taken place. Sonic, his number 1 bully, had not only asked him to hang out over all his other friends, but had bought him the most amazing shoes he had ever seen in his entire life! Just when he thought he had messed everything up, Sonic still wanted him to go to his house… and meet the amazing Sir. Charles!

The smile on the eight year olds face just couldn't grow wider and in a burst of enjoy he called out for his parents attention while running into his home.

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><p>The pain on Sonic's back just couldn't feel anymore worse as the teenager lay on his bed, his face buried deep within the pillows he gripped onto tightly while he used the soft material to muffle out the gritting screams he cried. His back was once again exposed as his Uncle sat by his side on the bed and rubbed his hands across his nephews quills in comfort, "Calm down Sonny, not long now" he hushed, but was only ignored. With the icepack that practically burned his skin the moment it touch it didn't make younger hedgehog think of it being over soon, every second was feeling like an hour and he knew this was only the start.<p>

When removing the ice away from his back, Chuck stared at the injury in a pitiful trance. It was hideous to look at, nothing but strips of red and patches of raw skin that blistered and swelled. When Sonic had walked through the house he could tell by looking at him something was wrong, but this was by far the least he had expected to see when the boy cried out after he placed a hand to his back for support.

Rummaging a hand through the medical box he had by his side, the older hedgehog picked out an antibiotic and poured it onto a small clean towel. He didn't need to warn his nephew about the coming pain as the strong smell already filled the room and Sonic held the pillow closer to himself and trembled a little more. Surely enough a sharp cry echoed through the room as the cloth was pressed firmly against his back. Sonic placed the side of his hand into his mouth and bit down hard, not allowing himself to make another sound. He had to stay quiet.

Not wanting to let his nephew suffer anymore then he had too, Chuck stroked the towel across his back quickly yet gentle, then he picked up the same cream he had used on Sonic's shoulders yesterday and rubbed it upon all the areas that had been cut. Finishing off he picked up a roll of gauze and placed it to one side before standing up from the bed and stepping closer to the teenagers arms. Carefully he reached out and held both before slowly lifting him until he could sit himself up properly. It was a move Sonic hadn't wanted to make, but he helped his Uncle help him by using what little strength he had to sit himself up. Pain alone was what made him hunch over while he let his arms cross against his chest. His Uncle got onto the needed job, grabbing the gauze he wrapped it around Sonic's whole body until every bruise and cut was covered.

He felt completely awful and he knew he looked it. He didn't want to face his Uncle, he didn't want to talk about it, but now that Chuck was finished he put his first aid kit aside and sat down in front of the teen, ready and waiting to talk. Sonic wanted to run away, but couldn't, not in his state, so instead he had to avoid the topic as much as he could, which was hard as his Uncle looked down at him sternly, not willing to accept anything that wasn't the truth. "Sonic I want to know what happened!" he stated, crossing his arms showing how serious he felt. He was silent for a moment, his eyes keeping to his knees, "I told you… I slipped and-"

"Don't lie to me boy!" Chuck snapped, leaving Sonic in silence. He could feel tears sting in the corners of his eyes but did everything to keep them from falling, all he did the past few days was cry and he wanted to be better than that, but he didn't know what hurt more, the pain in his back or the guilt that wrenched through his heart. His Uncle didn't look sad like he did, he looked annoyed and frightfully worried, but why wouldn't he be? He wasn't getting the truth and it was killing him, "You look a mess and I don't buy the whole slipped and fell football practice, which may I add you said was tomorrow" the other hedgehog stated. In a slight panic Sonic shook his head, "N-no, I mean, they moved it to today last minute because they're having the pitch redone" he mumbled, much to his Uncle's annoyance, "Stop mumbling and talk to me properly. If this happened at the School why didn't they take you to the doctors? Or better yet why didn't they let me know?"

"I-I… Coach said it wasn't that bad and to shake it off" the teenager lied quickly, not knowing what else to do. Fortunately his Uncle, though suspicious at first, seemed to believe it. Placing a hand to his forehead he took a moment to calm his rising anger, "First your shoulders… and now this? That's it. I'm going to that School tomorrow and having a word with Robotnik."

"No!" Sonic cried fearfully, his eyes growing wide and his hands quickly grabbed his Uncle's arms in desperation, though Chuck was clearly shocked at the outburst, "Please Chuck it's really not that bad, I-I don't want Egghead involved" he begged. His Uncle didn't take his request lightly however, so simply he pulled himself from his nephews hold and stood up appearing much taller than the other. "I'm going to ask you one last time Sonic and I want you to tell me the truth" he commanded, Sonic had no option but to look him in the eyes which scared him as he knew what his Uncle was going to ask.

"Is somebody hurting you?"

Yes! Yes! He wanted to scream it so badly, just wanted to grab his Uncle and let it go, to tell him what his teacher had done and why he was in so much pain… but he couldn't. So instead he firmly looked into his Uncles eyes and answered "no".

With a heavy sigh Chuck's irritation melted away and was replaced with sympathy. He reached out his hand brushed his fingers through Sonic's quills then cupped the side of his muzzle, a move the teenager appreciated as he held his Uncles hand and closed his eyes tiredly. Sadly Chuck sat down next to him again and pulled the boys head into his shoulder, keeping him held closely but avoiding his back. Sonic happily wrapped his arms around the older hedgehog's torso as he felt the warm hand playing with his quills. It was such a childish thing but it was a thing he never had when he was younger, now he was grateful for the comfort his Uncle gave him, just so long as it wasn't in public.

"Just promise me you'll tell me if anyone is" the older hedgehog sighed. A smile formed on the teenagers face as he buried his nose into his Uncles neck, "I promise" he mumbled.

Satisfied with the answer, Chuck gave him a small squeeze before pulling himself away. Sonic only watched as he picked up the medical box and used towel before heading towards the door. He had left for a few minutes but he still sat and waited, knowing his Uncle would be back. Surely enough, when everything had been put back in its place, Chuck came back into his bedroom with a hot water bottle and a cup of tea. Placing the drink on his side table, the elder hedgehog started to fluff and arrange the pillows on the bed so they would be more comfy; he then encouraged Sonic to lie down on his stomach constantly being careful of his back. Knowing a blanket would be too painful, he handed him the hot water bottle and waited until the teenager was comfy.

"Thanks Unc" he said before settling himself down. Even though it wasn't all that late, barely evening yet, he still felt completely shattered and just wanted to sleep. His mind hadn't been clear the moment he saw his friends at the mall, all he could think about was School…

The sun that shone through his windows suddenly went dark as he watched his Uncle close his curtains. It wasn't until Chuck looked at him with slight amusement that he realised he still had his shoes on, no wonder his feet felt heavy. Saving him from getting up Chuck undid the golden buckles and placed both shoes on the floor by his bed before picking up the many jackets the teenager brought and took them to the wardrobe.

"Uncle Chuck" Sonic's voice spoke quietly as he barely opened his eyes enough to watch the older hedgehog clean up his room around him. He only stopped for a moment so his nephew could carry on. "I don't want to go to School tomorrow" he admitted, truthfully it was what he had wanted to say for a while now but was nervous in doing so. Had it been any other time then his Uncle would have rambled on and on about how important School was and how he shouldn't miss a single class, but after today he got the idea that even his Uncle wasn't happy about him going in. With an understanding smile, Chuck carried on with his tidying, "Don't worry about it Sonny, I'll let them know tomorrow you're not feeling too good. Sides after that it's the weekend so you should be better for Monday I hope" he reassured.

Sonic simply nodded his head, glad that his Uncle could be understanding when he needed it. Than another thought hit him and he wasn't sure if he was pushing the limit or not, "Oh and umm… I told someone they could come over tomorrow after School."

The news came as a surprise as Chuck nearly dropped a video game controller on his foot that he was putting away. Luckily he caught it before turning to look at Sonic questionably, he only looked back innocently. "I thought you said you didn't feel well?" he asked accusingly while placing a hand on his hip and tapping his foot. "It's not to hang out, I got assigned to do a… Science project with him, and he's a fan of your work so I said it would be okay if he came over after School" he tried to explain, but his Uncle looked far from pleased as he carried on with the cleaning, "Sonic you know I don't like your friends coming over, they're not exactly nice kids" he pointed out thinking of the last time the red echidna boy had come over, and he was by far unimpressed with his selfish attitude and disrespect for their home. "No this is a new friend; he's only eight years old but got moved into my class for being a genius or something. I think you'll like him, he builds machines and he knows more about your work then I do" the blue hedgehog laughed. It seemed like he sold it well as his Uncle appeared to have second thoughts, "Well… okay but I want you to stay in the house."

"Okay deal" Sonic smiled, glad to be getting his own way. Resting his head once again, he felt he didn't have to fight sleep any longer. His Uncle was done with his room and quickly closed the door on his way out, leaving nothing but silence as everything faded to black.

* * *

><p>"Where The Hell IS HE?" the loud roaring voice boomed out across the hall ways, all down the corridors and even through a couple of nearby classrooms. A red echidna paced the ground in front of his locker while his fists clenched in anger. His teeth were gritting while irritated mumbles passed through his seething lips. "Knuckles calm down!" Silver shouted feeling more annoyed at the red echidna then the blue hedgehog. He had watched the sixteen year old go up to nearly every student who walked passed and asked them if they had seen the blue rat but no one had, or was too afraid to ask. "Today is the big practise; this is the most important day until the game in two weeks! Why isn't he here yet!?" Knuckles spat, resisting the urge to punch his locker which Silver leaned against, "Look I don't know what's gotten into Blue lately but…"<p>

"He ran out of School and kicked me in the stomach yesterday, and now he's skipping the most important day! What are we gonna do? Sonic's basically the only one who plays the game for us, everyone else sucks! We'll look like idiots! And to make it worse-" Not able to take much more Silver grabbed the echidna's shoulders and shook, "Stop it! You're getting on my nerves! Coach said we relied on him too much to win anyway so who cares?" he tried to reason, but Knuckles pushed him away, "I care! I have a lot riding on this game."

"Well it's easier for you. You're in goal, the rest of us have to keep up with Sonic and its hard keeping up with the only kid in high school who has super powers!" the white hedgehog snapped while folding his arms. As the tension between the two grew, Knuckles forgot it easily when a small fox walked by with two large tails flickering behind him. "You!" he spat before angrily marching towards the surprised kid, Silver following nervously behind ready to step in if needed. "What were you doing with Sonic yesterday?" the sixteen year old asked, making Tails break out in a terrified sweat, "U-um… I-I uh… W-we were just…" he struggled to speak under the rage filled glare the echidna gave him, it didn't help that patience was not something he possessed at that moment. "Well? Talk you little freak!"

"Knuckles!" a sharp voice cried out causing all three boys to turn their heads and stare at the young brown chipmunk that marched towards them, her friends not far behind her. "Sally" the echidna said flatly, hardly impressed with her being there, Silver on the other hand felt his stomach get into knots, girls were always scary to him, so seeing his best friends girlfriend angry at them was difficult.

The girl crossed her arms over her chest and frowned, "Why are you picking on a kid?" she demanded to know. A growl came from Knuckles as his anger flared up once again, "Here's a better question, why is your boyfriend ditching us for a two tailed nerd and skipping the one day we need him here!" he cried out. Sally felt her eyes drop sadly, not as confident as she felt before.

No one had noticed Tails take the chance to leave, his new light speed shoes making escaping a lot easier.

"I don't know what's gotten into him. After the whole Amy thing yesterday…" Sally had confessed sadly, only for Bunnie to throw her head back in annoyance, "Oh come on Sugar, are you still going on 'bout that?" she groaned. Sally turned to face her, "Hey excuse me for having sympathy but bottom line Sonic shouldn't have gone that far!" she made no attempt to defend her boyfriend this time as she normally did, this time he was on his own. "Yeah but so what, Amy is so annoying. She got what was coming to her!" Mina joined in, showing her clear dislike for the pink hedgehog. Shaking her head, Sally had to ignore them "Okay so aside from the fact he actually stood up to Amy, he started wearing that weird jacket thing and he looked really pale" she commented.

"You think that's weird? Yesterday after he had detention I saw him running out the School, he bumped into me and his eyes were red, it looked awful. Then when I was gonna ask him what was up he kicked me in the stomach! Then to make things worse we see him at the mall with freak geek and he bought him Light Speed shoes! Why the hell would he do that?" Knuckles burst out, taking everyone by surprise. Neither one felt they could explain it so they stood silent trying to think of what the possibility was.

"His eyes were red… was he crying?" Mina asked, only Knuckles suddenly froze now feeling worried he had said too much, "W-what no! Come on its still Sonic we're talking about. He doesn't cry, heck I don't think he feels" he laughed trying to be convincing. He may have been completely angry with the blue hedgehog but he wasn't about to let his reputation be brought down like that.

Sally didn't feel convinced; she didn't even feel sure if she wanted to discuss it anymore. Part of her was worried but another part felt like he got what he deserved. She hated feeling that way but the truth was yesterday, after seeing the way he treated Amy was an ugly eye opener for her. She knew he could be mean at times, but never thought he could be so nasty to someone who really liked him. She had too many unsure feelings, but she needed to make things right. "Look, I'll give Sonic a call later and see if he's okay, but I got to go. I'll catch you guys later" she said before adjusting her bag and walking away from the boys, her girlfriends looking at her questionably before following.

Knuckles raised his brow but didn't dwell on it for too long, "Fine, I'll ring him later and kick his butt then. Anyway, as I was saying freak-" the echidna turned back to where the small fox had once stood five minutes ago, only to see that nothing was there and Silver had placed his face in his palm.

Even though she had walked away from them, Sally still heard the agitated growl that echoed around as she turned the corner to see the last of the lockers. There were books in her arms stood a young pink hedgehog that closed the door to her locker and made to walk away. Before she got too far, Sally had chased her and grabbed a hold of the young girl's arm who cried from fright. "Ahh! Oh… it's you" Amy breathed heavily, relieved it wasn't a stranger looking to attack. Sally rubbed her arm bashfully, feeling she may be wasting her time. Mina and Bunnie stood by her sides and she hoped they'd let her do the talking. "Listen Amy, I just wanted to talk to you about what happened yesterday with Sonic" as soon as she said his name she had expected the girl to either cry or scream much like Knuckles. What she never expected was the small smile that crept onto her face, "Oh yes that. There's no need to apologise for what he said" she said so graceful and calm that Sally was feeling nervous.

"Well I just… I feel awful about it. He can be such a jerk at times, I just hope you weren't too upset over it" she tried to explain without sounding patronising, which surprisingly was a lot harder then she thought. Yet Amy still smiled kindly and shook her head, "There's no need to feel bad, I should have known Sonic would act that way… It was my fault, I should have spoken to him in private about us, but when I saw him with you I just felt so used, I-"

"Whoa whoa whoa! Wait a minute, what do you mean us?" Sally interrupted, her brow furrowing in suspicion while Mina and Bunnie exchanged glances. Amy looked almost surprised by the girls ignorance, "Well, I thought he told you. He said you two had broken up, so when I saw you two together I just acted before thinking" the pink hedgehog watched as the red haired girl gasped in horror, her hands clasped over mouth while tears stung the brim of her eyes. "Well class starts now, I better go. Thanks for the apology!" Amy Rose smiled before quickly turning her heels and walking down the corridor, leaving the group of girls to comfort their friend and shout horrible things about the popular blue boy.

Just outside her first class Amy saw a white bat lean against the wall, a large sinister smile upon her face as she watched the pink girl walk up to her. "Well, how'd the Princess take it?" she asked with a bitter laugh, already enjoying herself. Amy couldn't help but allow the grin to appear on her face as she held back her own laughter, "Oh I think she took it pretty well."

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><p><strong>Oh ho the plot of Amy and Rouge thickens!<strong>

**So things aren't looking good for Sonic now, but it can only get better right?... Oh wait I'm writing this, of course it can't. **

**If you guys enjoyed then please leave a review, I'm sorry for grammar errors, I'm seriously terrible for it (lack of hand being able to keep up with brain) but if you can read it without getting too confused then hey it's a victory for me. **

**Until next chapter!**


	6. The Project Idea

**Okay this chapter is a little short compared to the rest but I'm tired and even though I planned on adding more I thought it would work better if the next part was in a different chapter. So yes, at least I'm updating quickly... well quick for me anyway.**

**Again if there are any grammar mistakes, missed out words and whatnot I'm really sorry, I know they can be a butt to read but I'm wanting to go back over the past few chapters and sort them out soon, so hopefully all will be good.**

**Anyways another big thank you to all who reviewed, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter :)**

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><p><em>Dude where the hell are u?<em>

_OMG I swear U get Ur butt here NOW!_

_Where was u 2day? Call me_

_Look out, Knux is angry with u =S_

_Has Sall text u yet? Think she's upset xoxo_

"I'll take that thank you."

"Hey!" Sonic cried out as his phone was snatched from his hand, just as he was about to read his other messages. He watched irritated as his Uncle began to look through the many texts he had, carefully reading each of them. "Looks like you were missed" he commented, though he hardly sounded pleased given the context of each message. "I have a lot of friends, what can I say?" Sonic scratched his head the side of his head nervously; he hated it so much when his Uncle read through his messages, or when he logged onto his online accounts just to keep an eye on him. He had no privacy anymore; it was a miracle he hadn't found out about his behaviour at School already. Many times he came close, luckily Sonic managed to cover up quickly.

When Chuck was done he kept the phone on him instead of giving it back, "Unc!" Sonic whined and extended his hand out, but the older hedgehog shook his head, "No, you're supposed to be ill, you don't need to be texting people."

With a loud groan Sonic threw himself back down onto the sofa, only to regret it when his back took the impact. Luckily it wasn't as bad now. He had slept a lot of it off, only once did he wake up yesterday only to see it was night time and it was a text that had woken him up, it was Espio asking to meet up but he ignored it. He knew what kind of group the chameleon hung around with and even he knew better then to go out with them, especially at night. When morning came he had woken up at the normal time he would to go to School, it felt strange to lay in bed knowing all his friends were up. His eyes had drifted to the window, from which he had the perfect view of the girl next door. For once she was the one to have the curtains closed, but he didn't blame her.

Sonic didn't think he'd of gotten out of bed if it wasn't for his new guest coming over. Looking at the clock, he read the time which was 3:55, wouldn't be long now until the kid was here. He hadn't been out of bed for that long, so his blue quills were messy and lazily put on one of his new jackets, the red one, even with that though he still looked tired and he was pretty sure he smelt bad as well as his beloved dog Muttski had jumped at him and licked his face repeatedly before Chuck came and pulled him down.

So now he just lay there on the sofa, ignoring his Uncle as the older man announced he would be in his lab and ignoring his dog that sniffed at his limp hand. All he did was stare at the celling, trying all he could not to fall asleep again. He kept wondering what he had missed that day to receive so many miss calls and texts.

Just when his eyes closed and he almost blacked out, a loud buzz rang from the door that echoed all around the room. Startled Sonic shot up and jumped off the sofa, his mind feeling dizzy from the sudden action. Gathering his thoughts he walked to the door and opened it.

Tails stood nervously by the wooden door frame, his eyes trailed all across the modern sized home. He was so scared, what if this was the wrong house? Or Sonic had all his friends over and were going to prank him? But no, he saw Sonic's friends at School, they didn't look happy.

"Okay Tails… It's no big deal. Just be cool and don't freak out" he whispered to himself to ease his nerves. When he pressed the door bell, he fought to stand still when the door slowly opened. He had expected a million things to happen, but didn't count on a giant dog leaping from the house and knocking him to the ground. With a fearful scream the fox tried to fight the scary dog off but was pinned to the ground. When he saw sharp razor fangs he cried out again thinking of the harm they would do, but to his shock felt no pain but drool fall to his face as the dog licked him wildly. Tails started to laugh while the dog's tail wagged wildly.

"Muttski! Get off!" he heard a familiar voice shout, then the dog was pulled away from him and Tails sat up, instantly rubbing his cheek. Looking up he saw Sonic holding the dog by his collar and looking at the pet angrily, "Bad dog, get in the house!" he added before the dog whimpered sadly but did as he was told.

Looking back at the fox, Sonic offered his hand "Sorry about that Tails, he gets excited" he laughed. Tails smiled lightly before taking his hand and allowing himself to be pulled up, "Don't worry Sonic, I-I like dogs… he's pretty big though" the fox laughed awkwardly. The blue hedgehog scoffed, "Yeah they don't get bigger them him."

They both stood there for a while, not talking and Tails started to worry it was off to a bad start already. But Sonic broke the tension when he looked down and saw what the kid was wearing. "How you enjoying the new shoes buddy?" he asked while leaning on the side of the door. Tails looked down to his new shoes, a large smile upon his face, "They're amazing! Everyone was complementing me today, even the really cool people!"

He could only beam when the memory ran through his mind.

_Walking past a group of senior students, they had stopped him for a moment, "Yo kid, those are some sweet shoes you got there" they had commented. The young fox felt so confident now._

_"Thanks… My new friend got them for me"_

"You coming in kid?" Snapping back to reality, Tails watched as Sonic walked into the house and waited for him to follow. The outside had looked like a normal regular house; inside it was like seeing the house of tomorrow. Everything was mechanic in one way or another and seemed to be running through complete technology. Even the most simplest of things like the house plants were made of metal and looked like they functioned somehow.

This was the house Tails always dreamed of.

"So… how was today?" Sonic asked trying to be casual as he sat down on the posh sofa's they owned. The whole living area was so modern and cool, a massive TV mounted on the wall, a small hologram fire that emitted from a classy fireplace. Why is this guy not geeking out? "This house is amazing!" Tails suddenly blurted out, taking Sonic by surprise, "Hehe, yeah it's pretty cool; my Unc likes to tinker with things…"

"Is he here?" again the fox cried, only to flush when he realised how desperate he sounded which only made Sonic look uncomfortable. "Uh, yeah he's here, but he's kinda busy now. We'll see him later okay?" he said awkwardly. Tails placed his hands behind his back and nodded.

"Come on sit down kid, how was School, did I miss much?" he asked again, trying to get the fox to relax. Tails sat next to the blue hedgehog and thought back, "Well I ran into Knuckles, he wasn't happy though" he mumbled, Sonic simply scoffed "Yeah so I heard, I had like seventy texts from him saying he was gonna kill me. Anything else?"

Tails thought for a moment, "We had the game practice today… ugh Coach isn't really happy either" he admitted. Sonic raised a brow, "Well yeah but it will be fine right? He's known I know what I'm doing" he tried to defend, but Tails shook his head, "Today was really bad, for once we couldn't rely on you making the goals so we all actually had to play the game" he said sadly. "How did it go?" the teenager asked, though the tense look on his face showed he already knew the answer "It was a disaster. I least I wasn't the only one who sucked though."

"Haha, see there's a plus to everything. Sides it's just the practice, I'll be back for the real game" Sonic smiled confidently, the eight year old started to feel more relaxed now, "Let's just hope so, because we're pretty bad" he laughed.

"Speaking of not failing, maybe we should have a look into that Science project now. What exactly do we need to do? Miss Fart Pants said she gave you the instructions" the blue hedgehog said while making himself more comfortable on the sofa by putting his feet up. Tails quickly picked up his bag and looked through it, "Here we go!" he announced as he pulled out their homework. He held the paper out so they could both read it. As they did so, Tails looked at it with complete understanding while Sonic looked at it in confusion, not able to get his head around it. Seeing this, the yellow fox smiled, "It's not that bad, we have to do research on an item of our choice and explain the Science behind it. This list is the different factors we need to cover and its shared credit which makes up 50% of our grade. Failing this project means we won't be able to make it up and we'd fail the year…"

"Resulting in being held back a year no doubt. No thank you! So what do you study?" the blue teen asked, starting to somewhat understand what they needed to do but not showing much of an interest. Unsurprisingly he had a strong dislike for Science at the moment. Tails rubbed his muzzle as he tried to think, but sadly nothing came to him, "I don't know, I've been thinking a lot about this but to cover all these factors we need something like a power source. We're not allowed to share ideas so I don't know what everyone else is doing" he explained. Sonic looked away, now it was his turn to think. He didn't want anything to do with his Science teacher now but the thought came to him… What if he did extremely well on this project, something extraordinary that she realised he wasn't as bad as she thought. Maybe then she'd have enough respect for him to at least leave him alone if not apologise for what she did.

A smile spread across his face as he clicked his fingers, "I know what we can use."

* * *

><p>The room was filled with nothing but noise after noise. The slicing of the buzz saw on metal, the drills that whizzed around wildly and the loud rock music that was set to the highest volume it could go to. It was so loud that Chuck had failed to hear the door to his lab room open yet surprisingly he heard the loud excitable scream that shortly followed. With his ears twitching to the strange noise, he had thought one of his machines had a loose screw, but when stopping his work and lifting up his welding mask, the old hedgehog turned around to see his nephew stood by the looking embarrassed by the wide eyed child that stood next to him.<p>

"Ohmygoshitsreallyyouicantbelieveititsreallyyou…!"

"Whoa whoa whoa calm down" Chuck beckoned while placing his hands in the air, the young fox spoke so fast and hyped up that it put Sonic to shame, he couldn't understand a word he said. "Sorry! Sorry Sir! I-I mean your Highness, Ugh I mean um… Your Ministerness?" the kid tried again, only to realise he was making a complete fool of himself as his face turned red and small beads of sweat fell from his brow.

Taking off his welding mask and grabbing a cloth to wipe his hands on, Chuck walked up to the young kids and exchanged a glance with his nephew who simply mouthed an apology, obviously not realising how bad the fox would be. Still, Chuck didn't want to be rude, "Don't worry kiddo, I don't have a title anymore. You can call me Chuck" he smiled.

"Chuck? I can call you Chuck? Really?" the child cried out happily, only to suddenly cough forcefully to calm himself down, "Ahem, I mean, it's nice to meet you… Chuck. I-I'm Tails" he shyly said while holding out his hand, which to his joy the old Scientist accepted, "It's nice to meet you" he smiled, though he didn't sound very convincing. He pulled away from the kids hand and walked back to his work bench. Tails was instantly fixated on his hand, holding it like it was something precious and valuable.

"Please tell me you'll still wash that hand"

Snapping from his thoughts, he looked up to see Chuck sitting in his chair while Sonic stood by his side laughing at his Uncles comment. Tails blushed once again before apologising and walking up to Sonic's side… and no he will never wash that hand again!

"Sorry sir, I'm just such a big fan, I've followed all your work! You've been the biggest inspiration to me, I even tried to copy a few of your inventions" Tails tried to defend himself. He was happy to see Chuck pick up a little as the older hedgehog smiled at him interestedly "Really? Any success?" he asked. "A couple, like the telecom where you figured out how to get past the no signal areas, I looked into it and saw it was all about the internal wiring. Again with the international translator, it's all to do with the Mic and how it picks up sound waves and…"

"Well this conversation got boring quickly" Sonic interrupted after he flopped himself down on the sky blue bean bag. It was an eye sore compared to the high tec look of his Uncles lab, but it was there for him if he wanted to give his Uncle some company. Now though Chuck wish he hadn't bothered, "Sonic don't be so rude. Tails is finally saying something interesting" he stated bluntly, ignoring the fifteen year old who rolled his eyes and the eight year old who looked embarrassed again. "Yeah great Unc but we actually came up for a reason, not just so you two can have a geek off" Sonic huffed. Tails worriedly watched, thinking the older hedgehog would get angry, had Tails back chatted his father like that he would have been in trouble, yet Chuck didn't do anything other than sigh. "Alright how can I help you kids?" he asked.

Snatching the paper out of Tails's hand, the blue teen handed it to his Uncle. Putting on his reading glasses, the older hedgehog looked through it with interest, "I see… looks like the best bet would be to use a power source-"

"That's what I said!" Tails cried out excitedly, only to quiet down when both hedgehogs's glared at him. Going back to the paper Chuck carried on, "Anyway, there are a lot of factors involved so it needs to be diverse. Do you have anything in mind?" he asked, but when his eyes darted over to the blue teen that stared at him with pleading eyes and a large smile he could already feel the headache come on. "No Sonic!" he said flatly.

"Oh come on Uncle Chuck, I need it to be great! I'm not good at Science, this might be the only way to pass" Sonic tried to argue, but the older hedgehog stood his ground. "Absolutely not! I'm not letting you take something that valuable to School, I'd never get it back" Chuck replied, crossing his arms firmly. He scowled when he saw the younger hedgehog jump up from his seat and jump onto him, his arms squeezing his old body which felt like it was crushing him. "Please! Come on Chuck please, I'll look after it I promise. I need to get a full mark, and Tails sucks at football, he needs to make up extra credit or else he'll fail, that's two fails on your head man!"

Tails watched the two hedgehogs with amusement. He had never seen Sonic so friendly with anyone before, seeing him with his Uncle was like seeing a completely different person. He guessed the whole King of the School bully thing was nothing more than an act.

It was fun to watch, the cheekier Sonic got the more his Uncle tried to hold back his own laughter at how childish the teenager was being. It didn't take long before the blue hedgehog called for Tails to join in and the two tailed fox couldn't resist. He ran to the man he idolised and just like his new friend he grabbed the old man and hugged him tightly and joined in with the relentless pleading.

It wasn't long for Chuck to feel his insanity to slip.

"Alright! Alright! You can use it, but I'm trusting you boys to look after it okay" the old man cried out before pushing the young boys off him and talking to them sternly. "Thank you Mr. Hedgehog!" Tails chimed as Sonic smiled widely, "Aw yeah, you rule Unc!"

"I'll get it out so you two can begin your research" with that said, Chuck got up out of his chair and made his way to a small safe that was surrounded with an extreme security defence system. Pushing a button, a small touch screen board appeared on the wall and he got to work.

Sonic and Tails sat on the floor and waited, the fox was watching the Scientist at work until he felt a small hit on his arm. Looking up he saw Sonic was smiling, "Dude do you even know what it was you were begging for?" he laughed, Tails rubbed his head shyly, "Actually no… I just wanted to join in."

"Here you go boys!" Chuck announced as he walked up to the boys. In his hands he held a small metal box that had the Golden Acorn cress stamped upon the lock. They watched as he carefully placed the box in front of them as if it would fall apart at the slightest touch. "I'll leave you kids to get on; I've got some work to do so I'll be in my office if you need me. You can use the lab computer if you need to. Do either of you want a drink?" he kindly offered.

Tails looked at Sonic hoping he was answer first, but he was too intrigued with the box as he traced his finger across the golden band that held it together, slowly following the detailed patterns that created the value of its look. "Can I have hot chocolate? Not the cruddy one, the one I like" he eventually answered, only Chucked frowned, "We don't have any in, you drank it all the other day" he replied, "Oh… Will you go to the store and get some then?"

Tails raised his brow, taken aback by the request. What surprised him more was that his Uncle didn't seemed phased by it, "Sonic I'd have to make a trip down town" he reasoned, but Sonic looked like he didn't really care, "Please?" he stated as if it made all the difference. Which to the two tailed fox surprise, it did. Chuck sighed again before shaking his head, "Fine. I'll take the dog with me" he gave in before turning to face the eight year old, "What about you?"

"Oh… I'll just have what Sonic's having" Tails answered to which Chuck smiled before leaving the room. Truthfully Tails didn't actually like hot chocolate, but he felt too awkward to say anything else. The recent event bugged him, but he tried to take his mind off it by turning back to the box.

"So what's inside?" he asked curiously looking at the royal box. He reached his hand out to touch it but Sonic slapped it away. "Don't touch, this costs more than your life kid" he said, his eyes never looking away.

With butterflies in his stomach Tails watched as Sonic's hand gripped on both sides firmly. Using his thumbs he flipped both of the catches on each side, then slowly as the eagerness grew between them, he lifted the lid.

A bright light blinded both of them as it instantly dazzled. The light in the room flickered on and off while a couple of the machines started to turn whirl around and activate themselves. Luckily everything was secure, so Sonic was calm unlike Tails who panicked.

But then it was never a good idea to reveal a Chaos Emerald in a room full of machinery.

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><p><strong>My My My! With a chaos emerald in the mix things can only go well... right?<strong>

**Please review and then you'll find out ;)**


	7. Facing School

**Whoa uplode :D**

**So this one has a few answers I believe but also raises a few more questions dun dun duuuun.**

**I will apologise for any spelling/grammar or miss words that are in this chapter, I don't know what it is with me I'm terrible for it. Hopefully I'll get it sorted out soon enough though.**

**Also a reply to anthonysea; Yup I changed the summery and the reason for that was becasue I've now got the story figured out how I want it to go but I felt the summery didn't really reflect it that well, like it wasn't saying what the main focus was, so I changed it. Also if you go back to my first chapter I've changed that a little bit too, not drastically but enough to get readers attention :)**

**Also thank you for the review and thank you to everyone else, I'm just so glad you guys are enjoying it and I hope you'll stick it out to the end, heck maybe I will as well lol.**

**Just a note you may have figured it out but the new look Amy has is based of Sonic Boom Amy, this doesn't mean I'm setting this story in that world but I'm trying to bring in elements from all the Sonic universes just because I can :P**

**Anyway on to the story and I hope you guys enjoy.**

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><p>There was no point in going back to sleep now, he really didn't want to. The blue hedgehog sat up in his bed with his knees drawn to his chest. He held his arms tightly around himself and ignored the sweat that drenched his mattress, his covers and himself. His eyes stared wide at the bottom of the bed, unable to focus them on anything else; he kept rocking back and forth while his chest rose and fell from his unstable breathing. "It was just a dream… just a dream" he whispered franticly. His Uncle hadn't heard him, or so he hoped, so now he was the only one to comfort himself. He rubbed his own arms, bringing his hands to his tender shoulders and squeezing them. "Just a dream" he whispered again, burying his head into his knees, he continued to rock himself.<p>

"… Just a dream."

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><p>He hadn't known what to expect on Monday, he knew a few people would be annoyed with him, but he wasn't really sure why. It didn't worry him too much; he was the top guy so anyone who challenged him was going down… so long as they waited until his back didn't feel as sore. Still, whatever that was to come he could handle it, though he was dreading Science.<p>

Walking to the School grounds, he already saw Knuckles by the School gates waiting for him, he was with Silver and Jet, though they were entertaining themselves by picking on another student who walked by, the Drama King Antoine, they were laughing as he tried to give them a speech about how they were Fe-ul's or something like that, Knuckles hadn't even noticed as he glared at the blue teen who slowly walked up to them.

"What did I do now?" Sonic laughed when approaching his friends. Silver and Jet ignored the pompous student and turned to the confused hedgehog, though the worried look they gave him while their eyes drifted to the red echidna told Sonic all he needed to know.

Knuckles growled and advanced on him, making sure he looked as angry as he felt, "What is going on?" he demanded lowly, his hands gripping into fists that he held up threateningly. Sonic raised his hands also but only to calm things down, "Whoa come on Knux, what's the big deal? Look I get I missed the practice but I was sick, what do you want me to do-"

"That's not the problem and you know it!" he snapped back, his anger flaring to the point where he punched the wall he stood next to. Silver and Jet carefully back up, not wanting to be close if things got out of hand. Biting his lip, Sonic thought back to before the weekend, he knew why Knuckles was mad but what could he say?

So again he lied.

"Are you talking about me kicking you in the stomach or hanging out with Tails?" he sneered, knowing it would strike a nerve in the echidna, but he had to be casual, "Both you blue jerk!" A small smile formed on the hedgehog's lips, which earned him nothing more than a raised brow, "Dude you're completely over thinking this. Look on Friday after I did detention I ran into Tails, he had some baby power on his, lame right? Anyway, I tripped and it went in my face. I was trying to run to the bathroom but I couldn't see anything, when you grabbed me I just wanted to get away and wash my face, so I took the drastic action and kicked you. Sorry pal"

Knuckles thought for a moment, he stopped feeling as angry now and his hands slowly uncurled, "Hmm… its cool" he smiled, now feeling there was no need to hold a grudge.

"What about Tails at the mall?"

Okay now there was a reason to hold a grudge, Sonic shot a threatening look at the white hedgehog that looked down realising he was better off quiet.

"Yeah, what about that Sonic?"

The blue teen tensed, how could he lie out of this one? Was there any way he could use the truth to his advantage? What was the truth though; he didn't know what he was doing himself. His friends were waiting, now was a time for a miracle, he would open his mouth and prey something clever comes out.

"I adopted him"

"You what?" Jet snorted, Silver and Knuckles seemingly froze not having expecting that explanation. Sonic felt his cheeks go red; normally he was good at lying so what the heck was that? No going back, have to roll with it.

"Yeah… I thought it would be cool for the Science project you know, the study of turning nerds into Way Past Cool type kids. I'm gonna make him one of us, and it will prove it doesn't matter what you do, you're only ever gonna be popular if we want you too" he said so unsurely that he felt ridiculous. He waited in an awkward silence, but then suddenly his friends erupted in a fit of laughter, almost falling over themselves as they clutched their sides. Sonic tried to laugh along but found it too hard, he didn't know if they were laughing with him or at him.

"Oh my gosh dude that is epic! Mrs. Winter's gonna flip when you do your presentation!" Knuckles cried out while wiping the tears from the brim of his eyes. A large hand slapped Sonic's back which caused him to flinch, but he didn't make a sound. "Boy she hates you now, but imagine what she's gonna do when she sees that. You got to tell her today, I'm begging you" Silver laughed along. Sonic suddenly felt his stomach turn, they were right today in class they had to tell the teacher what the study was all about… what was he going to do?

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><p>The morning had already gone past and Sonic felt like he had been here for hours. He stood by his locker ignoring everyone around him. Luckily due to his reputation people didn't knock him down or bother his as they walked past, they gave him all the room he wanted. His friends had finally let him be, having already gone to their next class. He needed to get his book though. He had placed his math book back in the locker where it belonged, all he needed was to get out his Science book, but it looked to heavy now.<p>

He stared at that book, never blinking and never letting sound disturb his thoughts. At one time it never bothered him but now it felt like he was staring at a book of nightmares. All he could think about was his dream, it was her. He was in water, always water and he never knew why, but she was the one who held him down this time… not Shadow.

Placing a hand to his face, he shook himself back to reality. He couldn't think like that, he needed to look strong and forceful. Tails almost blew his cover at first lesson, the kid had ran to him excitedly and for once Sonic didn't have the will to put him down, so he made it known to everyone that Tails was his protégé. It confused a lot of people, but most found it to be amusing, after all he was Sonic the Hedgehog he could do what he wanted.

Tails had been more confused than anyone else but the kid went with it, and in return for keeping quiet about what had happened, Sonic made sure no one was picking on him anymore. A few had tried without realising it was him standing next to the two tailed nerd, and no more than a few seconds later they were at the nurses office with Light Speed shoe imprints on their faces. It was a fair deal he felt, Sonic kept his rep and Tails got protected.

That wasn't all his problems ticked off his list though, he hadn't seen Sally all morning and it worried him. He tried to call her but she hung up. Why was she avoiding him? When he asked his friends none of them knew why and when he asked Sally's friends they ignored him and walked away. Something was up and he knew it. He needed to talk to her at lunch… because right now he had hell to deal with.

Grabbing his book, Sonic slammed his locker door and left.

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><p>"I have given you the whole weekend to research and look up what to use for your presentation in three weeks' time. As a courtesy reminder let's go over the nine factors that you are to cover…"<p>

The moment Sonic had walked through the door he felt scared, yet his teacher never so much as looked at him. When taking names to make sure everyone was there she had called out his and he answered as normal, her voice had been calm and clear while he could hardly talk. Even though he sat next to Tails, his friends had moved next to him again which caused him to cringe, feeling the sense of de ja vu, they kept asking him what the problem was, why he wasn't trying to tick off his teacher, why he didn't put his feet up, why he wasn't making a scene and disrupting the lesson? With every question it was the same response, he told them to shut up before staring back at his desk, his finders playing with the trim of his red hoodie. It seemed so quiet and strange; several times the teacher had said something that just begged for an inappropriate response, she even looked at him and waited… she was challenging him! Making sure he had truly learn his lesson. He was so out of character that even Tails had nudged his arm to make sure he was okay. A smile and thumbs up was all he could give.

"Who would like to start us off hmm? Remember I want individual answers, and I hope no one has been stealing ideas! Once you give me your answer it goes into your work book and there is no changing your mind, so I hope you made sure the research will be possible and accurate" Mrs. Winters voice rang out as she sat herself down on her desk. If Sonic's behaviour hadn't of been noticeable than she certainly had been. Today the black tabby cat looked different, she was wearing a little more makeup and her hair wasn't in its classic bun but left to fall down her back. Her long flower pelted skirt had been swapped for a shorter black pencil skirt; she was actually showing off a nice pair of legs. Many concluded the picture had gotten to her, but Sonic just didn't know.

A hand reached over and tapped his arm, just like last time. Looking to the side he saw Knuckles grin at him, "Go on, tell her what your project is" he whispered while trying to hold back his laughter. Sonic stared at him with wide eyes, "No! Just shut up" he spat, but they weren't backing down. "Come on it will be so funny" Silver joined in, but Sonic shook his head, "Sonic why are you being such a looser?"

Oh no…

"Yeah bro, stop being such a freak!"

No… It was happening again, he couldn't… he couldn't do it… he could never go back…

His hand shook but he raised it into the air high enough to be seen by everyone in the whole classroom. The students were already smiling, each one excited to see what he was going to say, the teacher however breathed deeply. Now was the moment to see if her discipline had worked.

"Sonic, are you going to tell me what your project is or do I need to fill in another detention form again?" Mrs. Winters said, her eyes locking with his and her face showing no emotion what so ever. Yet Sonic could feel exactly what she was thinking, she was daring him to make bad move, give her another chance to make him feel week behind closed doors… but not anymore. He was not going to be made to feel like he had all those years ago by anyone ever again. Now was the time to show her where he stood, on the top and in control. So with the smile, the smile she hated more than anything in the world, he looked at her with glee, "Yeah I'll tell you my project, I was working on the theory of nerds and how easy it is to make them cool. I tried it with Tails but I wanted more of a challenge, so make my project How to turn pathetic old ladies into something doable, I'd ask you to help me out but I guess you're working on it yourself."

The book the teacher held in her hand snapped shut as the class room filled with laughter. Her teeth gritted together, once again she was humiliated as the students pointed and howled at his comments. She glared at the blue hedgehog, he high fived all his friends, the ones who had pushed him to answer. She wasn't dumb; she could hear them push him but she wanted to see him respond. Now she knew though… his friends were his trigger points.

"Aha ha ha! How very amusing of you Sonic" she stated bluntly, yet loud enough so silence everyone in the class room, "I'm sure everyone enjoyed your little joke there" her voice grew deeper and yet there was a trace of a smile creeping onto her face. Sonic stared at her remorsefully, he shouldn't have done it. He didn't know what she was going to do but he made a mistake and he was going to pay for it. "I'm getting detention again aren't I?" he spoke up, trying to sound like he was just joking around and didn't care about such things, but he was petrified.

Surprisingly she shook her head "No, no detention this time. After all it's such a complicated project you'll need as much time to work on it as you possibly can get… Especially as the presentation will now be held tomorrow instead."

The whole atmosphere in the class was quiet and tense, each student looking in horror at her sudden announcement. Sonic's mouth hung open as he felt completely gobsmacked by her unfairness.

"And you can all thank your friend Sonic for it!"

It didn't take him long to know what was going to happen. He felt his hands sweat in their gloves while his face flushed alarmingly. He didn't look but he already knew everyone was staring at him, each student angry and frustrated. "Thanks a lot you moron!" "I'm studying the elements now what the hell am I going to do?" "Why can't you keep your mouth shut you idiot?!" "What the hell is wrong with you?"

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><p>The double doors burst open and the blue teenager stormed his way towards the lunch hall, his friends were not far behind and Tails stood a little by his side. "How could you make me do that you idiots?!" he cried out angrily, refusing to look back and pushing aside anyone who was in his way. Even though Silver felt a bit guilty they had bigger worries, like getting their own projects finished in time, "We thought it would be funny, besides we didn't make you do anything" he tried to defend. "Oh oh so calling me a freak is just your way of saying do what you like?" Sonic snapped back sarcastically, "I told you to shut up and thanks to you guys everyone hates me!"<p>

Knuckled rolled his eyes as he rummaged through his back to bring out his note books, he hadn't been too concerned about Sonic's outrage as he had his project to work on as well with Silver, "Come Blue who cares? We got bigger things to worry about now" he growled. Sonic shook his head but calmed down, "Okay you're right, come one Tails, you got your computer thing?"

Tails went to his bag and brought out his handy tablet, something he made himself, and smiled at the blue teen. "Good, we'll do some research at lunch than you come over to mine straight after School and finish off than."

A wide grin formed on the foxes face, even though everyone else was panicking all he could do was be happy that Sonic wanted to hang out with him again. Until Knuckles cut in "Whoa wait no! Dude we got football practice after School remember? You missed Friday you know Coach won't be happy" the echidna pointed out.

Sonic ran his fingers through his quills as the stress of the situation was starting to get to him, "Agh! I forgot about that!" he moaned, he looked down at the young fox who frowned in return, "Me and Tails can't make it we have too much to do" he admitted, trying to think of a way around it. Silver pushed his hand out and nudged him to get his attention, "Nobody cares if Tails is there or not, we need you!" he snapped not even caring that the eight year old looked away sadly.

Making up his mind Sonic smiled nervously, "No I can't guys I'm already in enough trouble with Mrs. Winter… Look I'll talk to Coach and it will be fine. I'll be there for the game" he assured them. Looking at each other the white hedgehog and red echidna sighed, "You better be" was all Knuckles said before they pushed past and walked into the lunch hall. Sonic looked down at the two tailed fox and saw he was still feeling upset over what had been said. Placing a hand on his shoulder Tails looked up to see Sonic smiling, "Come on pal, see whose laughing tomorrow when we show them up with a Chaos Emerald" he whispered happily. Tails laughed feeling a lot better about himself before the two made their way into the lunch hall and sat down.

It was so strange, Tails had walked past his usual table, the nerd table, and watched as his fellow geeks had stopped discussing video game characters fighting to stare at him. They weren't exactly his friends but they always sat together at lunch and talked Science and machinery, and now they were seeing him with Sonic the Hedgehog, walking to the popular table and sitting with the coolest guys in the School... there was even girls who sat on that table! On a normal day he would have felt guilty, but before the weekend when he had sat with them they judged him for wearing his Light Speed shoes, accusing him of trying to fit in. To make it worse no one believed that they were a gift from Sonic either. Well who's laughing now?

It crossed his mind that Amy wasn't at that table either, she was the only girl who sat with them but not many of the guys were interested in talking with her; all they would hear is how amazing Sonic was. Come to think of it she wasn't there Friday either. He might have pondered on it more but Sonic was pushing him to log onto his tablet, the hedgehog himself had gotten out a note pad and was starting the write notes from what they found out before. It was a strange sight, the normally cool popular table where everyone laughed and shouted was now sitting in silence and doing homework as they all had something to work on. Tails started to feel in his element.

"What you guys working on?" Sonic asked across the table, Knuckles looked up from the phone him and Silver were sharing and scratched his thick head with his pencil, "We're supposed to be looking into this thing called Psychokinesis, it's like an old power or something so we're gonna see how to use it." Even though he was half way through his research, Tails looked up in amazement "Really? That's such a complex ability, however it's possible using the right materials, you could wire it through gloves and shoes so long as you have the right power source behind it… how about a power crystal?"

"Dude shut up! Stop giving them ideas!" Sonic cried while elbowing the fox in his arm painfully, "Ouch, sorry I was just trying to help" he mumbled, "Yeah help us not them, we don't want them doing better than us" the blue teen laughed, making Tails realise he had only been joking. "No no its cool Sonic let the kid speak. You were saying about a crystal of some kind…" Silver grinned which only caused Sonic to kick him under the table, "Hey no talking to my protégé! He's not ready yet" he said while placing his large hand over Tails's face which covered it and made the small fox try to fight him off. It all ended in laughter and for once Tails was laughing with them.

"What's so funny boys?"

They all paused for a moment when hearing the all too familiar voice ring out. Sonic growled under his breath, no longer finding any amusement in this anymore, but Knuckles and Silver had been the first ones to look at the young girl that stood at the end of their table, and the gawking stares they gave her told Sonic that something was different.

Turning his head sideways, he mimicked the expressions all his friends gave her when he saw her for the first time since that day. What he normally saw was a pink hedgehog wearing a frumpy red dress and big boots, a young girl with a massive crush… but now he was seeing a woman.

The pink girl had swapped her ballerina type dress for something slimming, a short red dress with a Chinese style top. She had on purple stockings and pink trainers that showed off her slim legs and instead of wearing normal gloves with golden cuffs she had purple sports tape wrapped on her wrists and golden bracelets that hung loosely. She was actually wearing makeup this time as her eyes seemed darker and more seductive, and she was defiantly wearing pink lip gloss.

Sonic had never seen her like this in his entire life! He didn't even think this kind of transformation was even possible. She had made herself look so much older and more attractive that he could actually feel a blush form on his cheeks. Was this all because of what he said to her?

Amy took her time and looked at each of the boys, none of them had stopped staring at her and she couldn't help but smirk, "If you wait a little longer you'll catch flies" she laughed, making them snap out of their trance.

Watching her giggle to herself, Sonic shook his head and cleared his throat with a cough, his face still felt too warm for his liking, "U-uh Amy… W-what are you doing here?" he managed to say, but mentally cursed himself for stuttering. "I just came to see Tails, the guys were wondering why you weren't sitting with them today" she answered so sweetly, like nothing had ever happened the last time she saw the blue speed demon. All eyes were now on Tails as the two tailed fox felt crushed from the sudden attention, "Oh um, me and Sonic have a project to work on, it's due tomorrow so…" he trailed off.

Once again Amy just smiled sweetly at him, completely ignoring Sonic which for some reason made the blue teenager feel a little jealous. "Right that's okay I'll go back and tell them. I think they were a little scared to come and ask themselves, leave it to a girl right?" she laughed, a few of the guys agreeing and laughing with her, now suddenly enjoying her company.

"So what are you guys working on anyway?" she asked, leaning down to look Tails's tablet, which caused her to bend past Sonic where he caught a nice view of her unbuttoned top, instantly he blushed more and pushed her up, "We're doing research on Chaos Emeralds and how the power works" he quickly answered before anyone else could. Tails raised his hands into the air questionably, "You said we weren't telling people" he complained, but Sonic reached out his hand and pushed his head away, all the while never breaking the eye contact he had with the pink girl. "Really? That sounds amazing. The Chaos Emeralds have so much history behind them. What have you got so far?"

"Not much really, not many people know anything about them so there's not much to go on, and the project is due tomorrow" the blue teen complained, strangely feeling relaxed around the new Amy, "If it helps I have a book on Legendary Gems, it's got an article on the Chaos Emeralds. If you like I could bring it over and help you work on the project" she offered.

Knuckles and Silver looked at each other trying to hold back laughter, classic Amy always trying to wiggle her way into Sonic's life, and just on cue as they both expected…

"Yeah sure, I'll be in after School"

"Say What?!" they both cried out in unison. Sonic sat with a goofy grin on his face while Amy smiled widely, "Great I'll see you then" she finished before walking away. It escaped no one's attention that the blue teen was watching her walk away and taking notice of how her hips swayed side to side.

Not understanding what had just happened, Silver clicked his fingers until Sonic snapped his head back to his friends, "Huh wha?" he mumbled while coming out of his daze. "Uh hello, are you forgetting about Sally or something?" the white hedgehog cried, not happy by the other's behaviour. Sonic stared at the two guys for a second before forcefully laughing, "Oh please do you seriously think I'm going to give up Sally for Rosy the Stalker? Seriously what do you take me for" he chuckled, but no one was laughing with him. This time the hedgehog and echidna exchanged looks once again before turning back to the blue blur sceptically, "We never said that, you did."

Sonic stopped laughing and just stared at them… what did they mean by that?

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><p><strong>My oh my, is my SonicAmy setting finally coming into play? Or is it just a mean trick I'm playing on all SonAmy fans as I'm horrid like that?**

**Still, Sonic's taking a Chaos Emerald to School tomorrow, that can only end well right?...**

**Please leave a review to get me off my lazy bum to write the next chapter :)**

**Till next time xx**


	8. Homework

**Hey my lovely peoples. First of all, whoa! I was not expecting so many reviews for my last chapter. Thank you guys so much!**

**I had mostly positive for SonAmy, a couple of negatives but in all fairness I did put these two as a pairing from the very beggining. Still this chapter will probably leave you on the edges of your seats ^^**

**But yes, thank you so much for the reviews, please keep them coming as they are the cookies to my cookie monster. Also again sorry for any miss wording and whatnot, my brain no function properly when writing.**

**Hope you guys enjoy this chapter and it's a long one ;)**

**QUICK UPDATE!**

**Just a quick reply to Lord Kelvin who has just reviewed saying no wonder I have hardly any reviews and I should read his to learn how to lure readers in. As he did not review with his own account I can't pm him, so I decided to just reply on here because hey, why not? Just wanna say dude, don't be so arrogant, I'm not gonna read your stories, people who review arent fish, I have a decent amount of reviews and thank you for contributing to it :) **

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><p>Running into the modern home and kicking off their shoes, the hedgehog and fox wasted no time with their work. Hearing the loud music and machinery working nearby told Sonic that his Uncle was in his lab, meaning instead of stopping to see him the boys went to his room and got out all the books they could find from the library. Lying on his bed, Sonic held the note pad against his chest and tapped it rapidly with the pencil he held. Tails was sat cross legged on the floor while searching through the books, unfortunately none of them seemed to be helping a lot.<p>

"Anything yet?" the blue teen questioned, only the fox sighed in disappointment, "They talk about what the Chaos emeralds have been used for, also how they're linked to the Master Emerald, but nothing about how the power works" he explained sadly, "We need to look at the emerald again." But Sonic shook his head, "Can't, my Uncles working on his new machine, the other day after you left he told me off for disturbing him while he's busy" he explained. Pulling up his note pad, he skimmed through it quickly before pushing himself up and getting off the bed, sitting himself down next to Tails instead. "Okay so we have nine factors to cover, so far we've got two. We need to see how it powers things…" he started before Tails finished, "And we need to see how the components responds with what lasting effects. Hmm, we've covered the basic two such as power level; Unlimited, and quantity; seven, but it's just finding out how they work. What's the book that Amy's supposed to be bringing over?" he asked. Sonic opened his mouth ready to answer, but was cut short by the sound of the door bell ringing. "Hold that thought" he said before speeding out of the room.

Finding himself alone in Sonic's room and unsure of how much time he had to wait, Tails dropped everything and ran to the desk that was by the wall under the window. There were a couple of notebooks around, pieces of paper with drawings all over them and empty cans of energy drinks. On the side board next to his computer a couple of pictures were pinned up of him and his friends, a photo booth slip with him and Sally making silly faces and old letters that might have been important at the time. None of those was what he was looking for. Acting quickly Tails moved some of the papers out of the way, looking through them before placing everything back carefully as it was. He pulled out the draws, only finding wires and old keepsakes that had been thrown there and forgotten about. So he opened the small trunk that underneath the desk in front of the chair and started looking through. He was a little surprised to see that inside that trunk was some old toys, a couple of stuffed animals and a few sports things like footballs and tennis rackets, but among it all he found what he was after, hiding away carelessly.

Only he didn't have time to take it as he heard the footsteps echo along the hallway and light chattering just outside of the bedroom. Slamming the trunk lid shut, Tails stood up as fast as he could and made sure nothing looked out of place. He turned around to go back to his spot, but found Sonic and Amy standing in the doorway staring at him, Sonic looking suspicious, "What are you doing?" he asked firmly, not happy by his privacy being invaded. Tails felt heart rush to his face as he tried to think of an explanation, "S-sorry, I was just looking around" he mumbled, preying he didn't sound as guilty as he felt.

Sonic looked at him uncertainly, he wasn't sure about the situation but decided to let it go for now, they had work to do. Turning back to the younger pink hedgehog he stretched his arm out to signal her to go in. When she did so he was about to close the door, only to remember the classic rule every parent had, so he left it open half way.

"Hey Tails" Amy greeted before sitting herself down next to the pile of books and notepads, assuming that was where they had been working. Tails greeted her in return before he and Sonic sit down with her, forming a small circle around their work. "Okay so what have we got Amy?" the blue teen asked, getting the work started again. Amy smiled before pulling out an old book from her bag and placing it on the ground. The boys looked at it in awe; it was a large heavy book with leather backing while the front of it had engraved writing that was decorated with inexpensive gems.

"Whoa!" Tails explained, seeing such an amazing book, "Where did you get this?"

Amy looked at the blue hedgehog and momently watched as his fingers brushed along the strange writing and red jewels, completely entranced by them. "Umm, a… friend gave it to me" she answered, hoping it would be good enough. Reaching out she opened the large book and the boys watched in wonder as she flicked through the pages, and noticing all the different power gems that were listed and noticing the large articles written about them and the illustrations that followed. She eventually stopped on the page and all three stared at the drawing of the Chaos emerald that was centre to the whole page. "Here we go, if you don't find something in here then nothing will do" Amy exclaimed proudly. Sonic turned the book towards himself so he and Amy could read it better, Tails however had trouble seeing it, "This is incredible, it has everything" he laughed excitedly, feeling like he had hit the jackpot. "Does it have the information that we need to cover?" Tails asked, trying to lean over to look at it. Being a quick reader, Sonic skimmed over it, flicking the pages quickly, "It covers most of it but doesn't have anything about being useful for us today. We need to make it a presentation and demonstrate how it works… This covers about half our project" he answered morosely, not as excited anymore as he realised it wasn't going to be as easy as he hoped.

Tails placed a hand to his chin and thought for a moment, "Well… we have seven factors to complete. You take the ones about history, how it works etc. and I'll log on to the computer and search up what the emeralds have been used for recently, then I can work out how it was used and how we can use it for tomorrow" he suggested. The blue teen smiled, feeling happy with that idea.

Amy adjusted the way she sat and folded her hands in her lap, "Won't you guys need a Chaos emerald though if it's what you're presenting? They're not exactly easy to come by" she questioned. An arrogant grin appeared on Sonic's face as he leaned back and place his hands on the back of his head, "Maybe for normal people, but I got it covered" he boasted, though Amy didn't seem to understand. "Sonic's uncle was given a Chaos emerald for his services to the kingdom" the young fox explained. The pink hedgehog's eyes instantly widened, "Really? You mean you actually have a Chaos emerald in this very house?" she shouted excitedly, "Can I see it?"

"Sorry Amy, but my uncle's working, we'll have to wait till he's done" was her answer. She felt disappointed but didn't push the matter. So instead Sonic clapped his hands together, "Right let's get started, you wanna use the computer Tails?" he asked the eight year old. Tails nodded, he waited for the hedgehog to get up and lead him to his desk area, but the blue teen was staying put, too busy reading the ancient book. It felt rude to just help himself but it looked like Sonic didn't mind, so the fox went up to the computer and made himself comfortable before switching the computer on.

Amy looked between the two boys, Tails was at the computer and Sonic was already making notes in his book, she felt awkward feeling like she had no place here, and yet her heart was racing, she was in Sonic's room sitting right next to him! Dream come true right?... but it wasn't, not anymore.

"So… is there anything I can do to help?" she suddenly asked, trying to distract her thoughts away and keep herself focused on why she was here. Sonic looked up from the book and looked at her cautiously. The truth was he had been worrying about her coming over to his house ever since it suddenly dawned on him that he had actually invited her over. This was after all Rosy the Stalker, the girl who followed him around, tried several times to kiss him in front of everyone and sat herself at his table when no one had asked her to join. Even though she was always a pain, he had to admit she was acting like a different person today, she looked beautiful and she was being cool. He felt the same way he did when he met Sally for the first time. But deep down he knew why she was being this way; it was all because of what he said to her, and he couldn't help but feel ashamed about it. He had snapped and she took the blame, but he couldn't bring himself to talk about it. Because deep down he's always had a soft spot for her no matter how much he denied it.

Scratching his head a little, Sonic had initially thought about asking her to leave and let him and Tails get on, but his guilt was telling him to ask her to stay in hopes of making things up to her, "If you can help me work through this that would be great" he said. A forceful smile appeared on the pink girls face, and she scooted a bit closer to get a better view of the book.

"Hey Sonic what's your password?" Tails called out, distracting the two hedgehogs. Looking up Sonic saw that he was trying to get onto the internet but it was blocked and required log in details before the web could be accessed, to which Tails was looking at strangely not having known that a password could have been needed to get onto the internet. "I don't know what it is" he shrugged, causing the child to pause in confusion, "You don't know the password to your own account?" he questioned, not understanding the logic behind it. Even Amy seemed confused.

Now feeling self-conscious about the matter, Sonic hesitated before explaining, "My Uncle doesn't like me going on the computer, so whenever I want to go on I have to get the new password from him. He changes it like after every time I go online so I can't just go on whenever I feel like it. Half the time I wonder why I even have a computer."

"Doesn't that get annoying?" Amy asked, but Sonic looked away, not wanting them to think it was a big deal, "Well no, I mean I don't really go online much anyway" he defended, but he saw Amy and Tails share a look with each other which unnerved him. "That's so stupid, why would he do tha-"

"But aren't you on SpaceBook and sites like that?" Amy quickly interrupted, knowing Sonic wouldn't be happy with what Tails was saying. "Well yeah but I'm mostly on there to make sure no one says anything about me" he clarified, everyone often thought he was on there all the time due to being connected to nearly everyone in the School, and because of this it was rare to see anyone say anything bad about him. However Amy and Tails still didn't look convinced much to the fast teen's annoyance, "Look it doesn't matter okay; my Uncle just wants to make sure I'm not getting into trouble, man it's not like I have no freedom! Besides it's only because of what happened with that stupid chick last year!" he snapped, taking the two by surprise. Sonic could feel his anger slowly rising, so he pushed himself up off the ground and walked out of the room, Tails and Amy flinching when he slammed the door. "I'll get the damn book!" they heard him shout from the hall way, assuring them he had actually left for a purpose.

With it now being the two left by themselves, silence filled the room. Tails scratched his head while smiling at the pink hedgehog who smiled back awkwardly. His eyes slowly drifted to the trunk that was next to his feet, but knew he couldn't do anything about it with having company, so instead he distracted himself, "W-what do you suppose he was talking about? With the girl last year?" he asked curiously. Amy paused for a moment, her eyes wondered to the door as if to check no one was there before turning back to the young fox, "You know about Sonic and Rouge right?" she started, the fox nodding, "Well it was when they were dating, Sonic was fourteen then and Rouge had just turned sixteen. They had been dating for a while before but when Rouge got older, I think the girl was one of her friends; she started saying things about Sonic on SpaceBook. A lot of rumours were going around about the two and it put Rouge in a bad light. So instead this girl put online that Sonic was forcing Rouge to be with him to make himself look good and tagged every girl in the School to stay away from him. As soon as that got out, it went around the whole School to the point the teachers had to get involved. I don't know what happened but a little after that Sonic uploaded a picture of this girl and wrote Fatty wanting Attention. He somehow managed to get the entire School against this girl and everyone made fun of her for being overweight."

Tails stared at the pink hedgehog, his eyes wide and his mouth opened, "You're kidding me! What happened to her?" he gasped. "She had to change School's" she said sadly, as if it was suddenly dawning on her how bad the situation had been, and how through it all she had still loved him.

Tails's mind was trying to process the story; he knew Sonic could be horrible; he himself had been the victim to his insults many times. Sonic could make anyone feel like they were nothing, like being around people was just a burden to them, and even though he made you feel like that you were willing to do anything to gain his approval. The way Amy told the story, he knew he should have felt disgusted with Sonic, to want to just walk out of his house and go home. But there was something in what Amy said that made him think differently from the pink hedgehog. Even though he had bullied this girl, she had actually started it by trying to bully him… he was defending himself?

"Do you think the rumours were true… with Sonic and Rouge?" he asked, speaking quietly as if Sonic would walk in the room at any moment. Amy's eyes drifted away for a moment, causing the fox to look at her suspiciously. "Um no I don't think they were" she answered.

After she spoke, the door opened and Sonic walked back into the room holding a small diary in his hands. "Kay I'm back" he said, seemingly a lot more calm then when he had left as he smiled to the others, who forcefully smiled back in hopes he wouldn't think they had just been talking about him. Stepping past Amy he walked up to Tails and handed him the diary, "Here, I had to bother my Unc but he was cool with it. All the passwords are there" he said before walking back over to Amy. Tails opened the book and looked through, "This has the passwords to all of your accounts?" he asked when looking through the book. Everything was titled and listed, all of his accounts on every website he was connected to. "Yeah it's weird, Chuck has basically hacked my computer and linked it with his so he can generate new passwords by pushing a button. All my passwords change so he writes it out for me for when I next want to go on" he shrugged casually before sitting back down. Instead of feeling strange about it, Tails was feeling more curious about figuring out how it was done.

"Okay back to work. Unc said he'd be done in a few hours so he'll get the emerald out for us then, in the mean time we need to start work."

Going back to the book, Amy watched Tails find the right passwords and log onto the computer before starting his research before looking at the blue hedgehog. They all worked together at this point, asking questions, searching for the answers and trying to explain them before fitting it into the project. They had been going for a while, and even though they were focusing on the Science homework, several times Amy had tried to get Sonic talking about what he said to her, hinting to her new look and less overbearing personality, but every time Sonic changed the subject, leaving her to eventually give in.

And now, two hours in, they had been so focused on their work that all three practically jumped the moment Sonic's phone rang loudly through the air.

"Whoa! Oh my gosh!" the blue blur exclaimed while clutching his chest from the fright. The two preteens stopped what they were doing and watched him reach for his bag and tip it upside down, causing all his books and accessories to scatter across the floor. Among it all his phone still rang and he grabbed it, looking at the screen his face lit up eagerly. He answered and stood up, walking over to his bed to give himself some privacy.

"Sally! I'm so glad you called me, I've been worried sick"

"_Hey… I'm sorry I didn't reply to you before but I needed some time to think_"

Amy held the book to her face and pretended she was reading it, but over the top her eyes were fixed on the blue hedgehog, and even though he was talking privately, the connection on his phone was so loud she could even hear what the chipmunk was saying.

"Look, whatever I did to upset you I'm sorry okay? All I heard from Bunnie was that you were upset and she and your other friends have been treating me like I did something horrible… what did I do?"

"_No Sonic please just let me talk okay. I've been thinking about this all day and it's not fair to go off what people say without hearing your side of the story as well. Are you alone?_"

Sonic's eyes quickly looked around the room, Tails and Amy appeared to be distracted so he figured he'd be alright, "Yeah I was just in my room doing homework. What have people been saying?"

"_Well, not so much people… Promise me you'll be honest with me?_"

"Of course, Sal I've never lied to you before, you know I care about you too much"

"_Okay… because on Friday before we started School I went to the lockers to find-_"

Before she had a chance to finish that sentence, Amy lowered the book in her hands as if she had just found something thrilling and wanted him to look at it, "OH SONIC!" she screamed out, practically breathing his name passionately before squealing in her excitement which only caused the blue hedgehog to blush as the phone nearly dropped out of his hands.

"_What the… was that Amy?_"

"What no no no-"

"_You told me you were alone, what the hell is she doing in your room with you?_"

"She's just helping me with my homework, I swear"

"_Oh it sounds like it you lying jerk!_"

"Sal listen to me!"

"_Agh! Just throw yourself into a river you arrogant freak!_"

"Sally!" Sonic yelled out, but she had already hung up. Looking at the phone desperately, he tried to ring her back, but she cut him off every time. There were a million things he wanted to say but the words were stuck in his throat. Tails had stopped his work and watched everything happen from the moment Amy screamed out, Sonic was starting at her, looking at her in a way that was desperately begging for an explanation. But she wouldn't look him in the eyes, instead she stared at the ground guiltily while biting her fingers, knowing it had been her fault.

He didn't know what to do, Sonic wanted nothing more but to drop everything and run to Sally's house, but they had so much work to do he knew there was no time, no matter how fast he could run.

Placing his head into his hands he released a loud irritated scream before snapping back to reality, now feeling less tense. "I deal with it later, we got to get this done!" he cried before marching back to his work.

* * *

><p>It had gotten dark by the time they were nearly finished and Amy couldn't have stayed any longer. She had received a text from her new friend telling her to come to her house and stay the night. So when the boys had reassured her that they could handle themselves and they had got enough information to give the book back, Amy had left to quickly pack her bags and ask her mother to drive her to the address she was given.<p>

And now after placing her bags down and getting settled Amy paced around the large bedroom, that was decorated in purple themed patters and diamonds that had been placed anywhere possible giving the room a look of glamour and value while the young bat lay on her bed and listened to the girl as she rambled on.

"I hate him! Ever since I was there all I wanted to do was grab a hammer and hit him across the face! You know I told Tails about what he did to your friend? It made me realise, the moment I told that story for myself I stopped defending him and I realised how horrible he was. How selfish he could be! When I came to the door, do you know what he did? He looked around to make sure no one saw me go in! Like he was ashamed to be seen with me! Oh and even when Sally called, he wouldn't tell her he was with me and Tails, probably because he was too embarrassed. But I sorted that out good, I did what you told me to do if she rang him, I made it look like we were fooling around and she totally bought it. She told him to jump in a river. Agh! I'm so angry right now-"

Rolling her eyes and breathing deeply, Rouge pushed herself up from her bed and walked up to the young hedgehog, grabbing her arms to stop her from moving. "I told you, he's a user Amy. He's a selfish little boy who can't handle being told the truth, and you know what the truth is?" the white bat asked knowingly, Amy shook her head, "When people get to know him, they hate him."

Now that she had finally stopped, Amy felt all her adrenalin and anger go and be replaced with sadness. "I know…" she sniffed, starting to feel tears well up in her eyes, "You know I tried to get him to talk about what he said to me… I told him that I felt great with my new look, or how I was influenced to act differently… and he didn't even care, he changed the subject" as it all suddenly dawned on her, Amy felt the urge to sob rise up in her throat, "h-he n-never apologised…" her tears fell from to the bottom of her cheeks.

Rouge wasn't a sympathetic person but she looked at the girl with pity, remembering how she had once felt. Placing an arm around the girl's shoulders she rubbed her arm comfortingly.

"I loved him Rouge… After all the time's he treated me badly I l-loved h-him…" she whimpered, her voice breaking as she struggled to go on. It was such a weight on her heart, and now finally someone was here to listen to her, "W-when he s-said those things… he h-had never done that before… b-but when he s-said… _all I wanted to do was go home and die!_" she screamed out brokenly before falling down onto the double bed and throwing her head into her hands, bawling her eyes out.

The white bat sat by her side and pulled the girl up. She placed her head on her shoulder and wrapped her arms around her waist, letting her cry away the years of rejection, of torment that she had suffered through. It was unnoticed by the upset girl, but the smile that was fighting its way onto Rouges sparkling lips was nothing but malicious.

"I know you hate him right now and trust me sweetie I hate him too, but this is why we need to do this! We have to put him in his place and show him he can't get away with sticking his foot in our faces anymore!" she spat before pushing Amy away from herself and staring into her red puffy eyes, "We have a plan Rose and I need you to suck it up and act like nothing happened you hear me?"

But Amy shook her head woefully, "N-no I c-can't… all I think about-"

"I don't care what you think about! You need to put all those feelings aside and pretend he's the only thing you want in your life, pretend you still feel the way you used to or this will never work" the older girl snapped. Amy took a few short breathes but calmed herself enough to agree, "okay" she whispered. With a large smile, Rouge let go of her shoulders and pushed herself onto her bed properly, "Good, now that that's settled. What did you get for me?" she grinned hopefully. Amy wiped away the last of her tears before leaning down and picking up her bag.

Rouge raised her brow curiously as Amy pulled out a small diary and handed it to the older girl. "What's this?" she mused, opening the book and looking through. Inside was a list of different websites and usernames, followed by a bunch of numbers.

"Sonic told us his Uncle's pretty strict when it comes to him going online, because of what happened with that girl" Amy started to explain, Rouge sighed bitterly to herself, "Oh yes I remember. My friend tried to stick up for me and Sonic gave her a break down. Of course sweet old Chuck only found out about what she said to him and not what he did back."

Amy bit her lip, realising she had hit a nerve, but decided to move on, "Yeah, well his Uncle controls how often he goes online now, so he has all the passwords in this book" she said while pointing to the small diary. Instantly Rouges face lightened up and she squealed in excitement. "Amy Rose you are a genius!" she cried out while sitting herself up and kissing the diary. Amy looked at her in confusion but cried out in protest when the beautiful bat reached into her bag and pulled out the pink hedgehog's phone. "What are you doing?" she complained, but Rouge shushed her. Using the passwords written in the diary, she logged Amy out of her own SpaceBook account.

The hedgehog watched worriedly as Rouge entered Sonic's email address and used the numbered password before clicking enter. Even though Amy had stolen the book for this very purpose, she started to feel hesitant about the idea. Too late now as Rouge laughed victoriously as the message popped up saying Welcome Sonic.

"Oh we are going to have so much fun with this" the white grinned while licking her teeth, Amy wasn't feeling as confident, "Wait maybe we shouldn't!" she cried, but the seventeen year old shrugged her away, "You said it yourself Sonic never goes online, but no one is brave enough to say anything about him in case he finds out. Let's give them a reason to say something."

Looking at his account, Sonic was connected to nearly two thousand people, he had several unread messages that he never looked at and was part of different groups.

Only now Amy watched with butterflies in her stomach as Rouge typed a new status.

_You guys seen Amy today? Damn hot or what? Looks like Sally's gonna have to work harder to get my attention at night ;) _

Amy's hands clasped against her mouth in shock, "Rouge! You can't say that!" she cried out, knowing what would happen if she pressed send, "What if Sally sees this?"

"Oh I hope she does!" the bat laughed bitterly, and after which she went into the Tag People section and typed in the popular chipmunk's name, her smile growing darker as she hit select.

The pink hedgehog's hands practically shook, all she wanted to do was grab her phone and run away. She wasn't a bully, she didn't do this to people! It wasn't so much Sonic but Sally as well, the girl had actually tried to apologise to her and this is what she was doing… No. She was doing Sally a favour because she deserved better. With a heavy sigh, Rouge held her phone out to her, everything was set up and ready, but she wanted her to press send.

It was either send or delete; the buttons were next to each other.

She made up her mind and pressed one of the two.

* * *

><p><strong>What was Tails looking for?<strong>

**Did Sally break up with Sonic?**

**Did Amy let her guilt get the better of her?**

**What am I having for tea? **

**So many unanswered questions! Please review and I'll get my butt into gear and work on the next chapter soon.**

**Until then Toodles! hehe... Sonic said that in the last Sonic boom episode, I laughed like an idiot ^^ **


	9. The Project Day

**So another long chapter is here! And it's project day! Yaay!**

**I've been talking to Modochi through PM and she actually gave me a good idea for part of this story, which was totally better then my original plan, so credit goes to her :) If anyone has any suggestions they'd like to share then I'd be greatful to hear them. **

**Also thank you for my lovely reviews ^^**

**If there's any wording mistakes, very sorry will fix soon though (yes I say this a lot but I feel I have too)**

**Hope you guys enjoy**

* * *

><p>The phone rang several times once again, yet there was still no answer. Sonic waited a bit longer, his phone pressed against his ear patiently while he leaned himself against the side wall of the School. He was alone and out of sight, not having met up with his friends yet. He had tried all morning to get a hold of Sally but every time he rang her number he would only hear her voice on the answering message. His seventh attempt was no different, and in frustration the blue teen groaned and threw his head back into the wall.<p>

Thoughts of what this day held ahead were making him feel sick. Sally was ignoring him, most of the kids in his class were ready to beat him up and the reason being was that stupid Science project they had to present today. The thought of standing up and speaking about the Chaos Emerald was something he could cope with; knowing that now Mrs. Winters would be looking for him to slip up was making him believe he maybe would.

Looking at the time on his phone he debated trying to call Sally once again, but there wasn't any time. So he adjusted his bag on his shoulder and made his way towards his first class.

Math wasn't so bad, heck it was probably the only academic thing he was good at. He didn't really mind doing this kind of work, learning about fractions, how to find the volume of a square and whatnot. Out of all his lessons this was the one that made the most sense to him. His grades however were not reflecting this. But when you're hanging out with the popular guys, have the whole School looking up to you for being a rebel and a bad boy, having the ability to be the star of the Mathletes is not something you let people know. So he dumbed down his work, which in itself was stupid because he really wasn't doing so well in his other lessons and Math might have been the thing he needed to pass the year.

Sitting down at his normal desk, Sonic placed his bag down next to him, careful of the metal box that was inside. So long as he passed the exam, he didn't need to worry.

Normally Sally sat next to him, it being one of the few classes they had together. The blue teen leaned back in his chair trying to look uncaring, but he watched every student walk through the door and there was no sign of his girlfriend. He wasn't left completely alone though, Silver had taken the desk in front of him as normal, only this time he seemed to hesitate. Raising his brow, Sonic leaned forward and tapped the other hedgehogs shoulder, Silver looked ready to talk but a purple cat stood in front of both of them, keeping the white hedgehog silent. It was normal for Blaze to sit with Silver and she and Sonic got on really well, not as well as she did with her desk buddy though. Normally she would sit down, watch Silver make a fool of himself as he tried to talk to her and the three, well four if Sally was there, would stay in their own little group. This time though, Blaze had no intention of sitting down. Sonic had to check twice, but Blaze was glaring at him. She bared her fangs at the sight of him and her eyes practically held fire in them.

What did he do?

"Blaze you okay-" Sonic started, but she raised her hand in the air and looked away from him in disgust. "Silver, I'm sitting over there now" she stated to the white hedgehog, pointing at the empty desks at the other side of the room. Silver's eyes darted from the desks, to her, then to Sonic. He kept looking around, not fully trusting himself in what he should do. But Blaze had made up her own mind and walked to the opposite desk, sitting herself down and waiting.

Looking at his friend, Silver sighed and slowly stood himself up before picking up his bag. Sonic felt his shoulders drop and his eyes grow wide with confusion and feelings of betrayel, "What are you doing?" he whispered, not wanting everyone around them to see he was being ditched. He just didn't understand what was going on. Silver didn't give him an answer, all he did was stare at him for a moment… like he was disappointed in him. Then he walked over to Blaze and joined her, leaving Sonic to just watch, not understanding why.

Tails had arrived unusually late as he clumsily pushed open the door. He was holding several folders and papers were flying out of them to which he quickly dropped down and picked them up.

Watching him made Sonic place a hand over his face, feeling a little embarrassed for the kid, especially as now they were supposed to be friends.

When having collected everything, Tails shot back up. He looked over to Sonic to see the hedgehog looking away. There were a few seats next to him but normally other people sat there, so Tails started to walk to the back of the class. Only when he took his third step, he failed to realise one of the older students had place his foot out from under the table purposely and without any time to react the fox screamed out, fell to the ground face first and all his work was scattered across the floor.

The classroom filled with laughter at his expensive, and Tails could feel the redness of embarrassment burn through his cheeks. He pushed himself up on his hands and knees but kept his head down, not ever wanting to be seen by anyone ever again. The sound of laughter suddenly stopped though, and in its place was the sound of speed. A flash of blue flashed around him for a couple of seconds, and then suddenly feeling brave enough Tails lifted his head and looked up. All of his, their, homework was piled neatly upon his desk while the blue hedgehog stood next to the guy who tripped him up, holding him tightly in a headlock effortlessly and dragged him from his chair and onto the floor, pulling him closer until he was level with Tails.

"I suggest you apologise" the teen snarled, a small taunting smile forming on his face which sent shivers down the foxes spine. "Okay okay I'm sorry."

Feeling he had made his point, Sonic let him go. The guy coughed and rubbed his throat from the tight grip, making Sonic realise his hold might have been stronger then he realised, but too late to go back now. He held his hand out to Tails, watching the fox blink a couple of times before realising what he was offering, then taking his hand and pulling himself up.

With one final look of warning to everyone in the class, the other students quickly went back to their own groups, not wanting to be involved anymore. But that didn't stop the whispers from slowly working their way around.

Sitting back down on his seat, the blue teen started to feel unsure of himself. Even though he tried to hide it, he was listening to what people were saying. Normally he would talk to Silver and never care but… now he could actually hear people, and they weren't impressed.

_Show off, over the top, insane?_ Was that what people thought of him?

Wait, did someone say something about him cheating?

"Um thanks… for standing up for me… can I sit?" Tails shyly asked while pointing to the empty chair. Sonic looked at it before shrugging, "Sure" he answered, letting the fox have the seat. "Are you nervous about the exam?" Tails questioned, not wanting them to sit in silence after what had just happened. Besides he had hoped that the two were past ignoring each other. It seemed like every day was different with the blue blur.

Sonic scoffed a little and placed his hands behind his head getting comfortable, "Nah we got this in the bag" he laughed. Tails smiled, glad he picked up a little, "Have you got the emerald with you?"

"Shh! Dude don't let people know" the older animal suddenly snapped in a panic, his eyes darting around to make sure no one was listening. Something that valuable does not need the School to be informed it's an arm's length away under a desk. "Sorry sorry" the young fox quickly stumbled, "I-I'm just really excited"

"I'm excited too… well kinda. Look let's just keep it between you and me okay?"

"Okay, sorry Sonic" the eight year old sighed. All he wanted to do was go over notes and talk about the emerald but now he had to keep quiet. Looking around he wanted to find something to talk about. Then it came to him that something was out of place, "Hey how come Silver and Blaze are sitting over there?" he asked, looking over at the cat and hedgehog. Sonic glanced over to them as well. It seemed like Blaze was complaining about something and Silver was trying, but failing, to reason with her. Only she kept looking at the blue teen.

Turning back, Sonic simply shrugged, "I told them to move, can't be bothered with their crap today" he shrugged, it didn't escape Tails notice that he spoke a little more louder then he should have.

He wanted to continue, but the announcement of the teacher's arrival had put him off.

* * *

><p>The bell had not long ringed and the day continued on. Sonic had kept himself normal around his friends and went about the morning as he normally would. He constantly checked his bag to make sure his 'homework' was still safe and each time was pleased to see it tucked away under his books. What pleased him most though was that the majority of the day was over and he had enjoyed an hour of freedom at lunch time, or so he would have had he not been asked to see the Coach of their football team in that time.<p>

Walking into the large arena Sonic stood next to the benches completely alone. He watched as the senior students were in their teams, dressed in the School's uniform and tackling each other to the ground. The Coach, a large muscular bulldog stood on the side lines, yelling and cursing at them at every opportunity that presented its self. He slavered so much that several students who ran by had to wipe fresh spit off their faces and hope no one took advantage of their distraction.

"GO ON YOU WORTHLESS MAGGOTS GET THAT DAMN BALL, MOVE YOUR BUTTS, GO!"

Then finally the team in red erupted in cheering as they finally scored the goal. The Coach screamed out loudly and clapped his hands in support before all the members walked passed him to go to the locker rooms. As each one passed he patted them on the shoulder and told them "good job."

When he looked down at his notepad and wrote down what he needed to, Sonic threw his bag back over his shoulder and stood up. He carefully approached him knowing that this meeting wasn't going to be good.

"Coach?" his normal confident voice spoke, though he hardly felt it this time as the bulldog swiftly turned around and stared at him carelessly. He didn't speak for a while, just carried on with his notes, making the hedgehog wait awkwardly. But eventually the dog was done, so he walked over to the bench, Sonic in tow, and packed his things away. "What's with the new getup?" the older man's harsh voice grumbled, causing Sonic to look down at the red jacket he had on. The pain was practically none existent but the scars were more than noticeable. "You asked to see me to talk about my clothes?" the teenager laughed, but regretted it when the bulldog snapped his head his way, his face drawn in an angry snarl and he looked ready to attack.

In that moment Sonic started to panic, he quickly looked around and noticed that no one was there, it was only the two of them left and no one could see them if anything happened.

The dog stood opposite him but not far away, his brow was furrowed deeply to show how he felt at that point, whereas Sonic himself started to tremble. "Do you think I'm in the mood boy?" he snarled, the hedgehog looked down not knowing if he should run away while he still could or do as he was told, "Sorry… I'm wearing it because… I'm cold?"

"You're cold…" Coach repeated with little amusement. Being a teacher for the past twenty years gave him a lot of experience when dealing with students who liked to skip class. Having to listen to excuse after excuse, he got good at telling who was lying or not. And unfortunately for Sonic he could tell just by looking at him. "So you're telling me that this whole 'new look' has nothing to do with you skipping the three hour practice? Hmm? Which by the way, as head player on my team I expect you to show up for no matter what!"

Cringing at his words, Sonic's hand slowly rose up to his lips where he bit down on his finger, desperately looking for a feasible reason for not showing up, this one time though he had nothing, "I-I ugh…" he started, but was silenced, "No, no excuses with me. You didn't show up and the whole team failed. Then when you had the chance to redeem yourself by after School practice, you skip that too" the older man condemned. "But I had homework and-"

"I SAID SHUT IT!" With the snap of his voice and the aggressive approach he made, Sonic felt something inside him break. As one minute he stood, the next he found himself fallen to the ground on his knees, his rigid hands covering his ears and panting heavily as he couldn't breathe anymore.

Anger completely gone, the bulldog felt a sweat drop fall from his face as it dawned on him what he had caused. He hadn't of realised how intimidating he must have seemed but the young teen was having a panic attack at his very feet. Getting his mind right, he leaned down and placed a gentle hand upon the boy and rubbed his back. "Sonic" he spoke more calm but the young hedgehog hadn't heard him, "Come on son, just breathe, you're okay" he normally wasn't a comforting person; this whole deal was new and strange for him, especially with a student who had a strong a reputation as this one. But eventually Sonic was able to listen, forgetting all the flashbacks that were playing through his mind, and the graphic images of what he had expected the Coach to do to him. When he had spoken, he realised that the older man was trying to help him, and he finally felt himself settle down.

Feeling he was looking better, the bulldog got up to his feet and stood properly. Holding Sonic by his arm, he slowly helped the other to do the same now that the hedgehog had remembered how to use his lungs again. Now feeling like he had just been in a daze, Sonic held his head in his hands, "s-sorry" he mumbled feeling foolish. The old bulldog just held up his hand and shook his head, "Look son, I know something is going on with you. During the practise not only did I have to listen to everyone whining like a bitch that you didn't show, but a lot of the guys said it was weird you started wearing this thing" he said while picking up his sleeve which made his arm hang loosely inside. "Now I did think about kicking you off the team" Sonic gasped and stared at the coach pleadingly, but luckily before he had the chance to grovel he carried on, "However! You are the best player I have and I do genuinely think you might have a reason. But that don't give you an excuse to miss my class again. You screw up one more time and you can forget playing the game, are we clear?"

He wasn't able to answer having lost his voice now, but he nodded his head gratefully and made it known that he understood. With that cleared up, Sonic pushed past the sport teacher and tried to quickly get out of the arena, but the booming voice calling his name asked him to stop. Looking back at the bulldog, Sonic waited as the old man collected his things then approached him carefully this time. "Sonic. If there's anything you want to tell me, now's the time to do it" he said.

That was it, all Sonic would have to do was tell him the truth and get out of this whole mess…

"No… I'm okay. Thank you" but he couldn't, because who would ever believe him?

* * *

><p>The whole day had led him up to this moment. He sat at his not so usual desk next to the two tailed fox, his whole mind feeling messed up and confused. Tails was going over their notes again and again, terrified of speaking in public and correcting any mistakes they may have made for their hand in work. Right now two students were up in the front of the class, they had in front of them a small unimpressive looking beaker that held some weird chemical. They had pointed out firstly that it would have looked better had a certain blue hedgehog kept his mouth shut, but Sonic hardly cared about that now. His eyes were fixated on the woman sat behind her desk and taking notes of their work, she never once looked at him. She dressed differently again, shorter skirt and her hair down and styled. Many weird things had been happening today and he felt this lesson would be one of them.<p>

Silver and Knuckles were called up next. The presentations only had to last at least five minutes, but every second was feeling like an hour. They talked about what they said they would, however there was nothing to really show, other than a simple slideshow of how psychokinesis should work, complaining they had nothing to show because again of Sonic. It made the hedgehog wonder if that was why Silver acted the way he did, but when he called him upon it after the class had ended, all the white hedgehog did was tell him to tone it down… tone what down? Nothing was making sense that day. Sally never took time off School, yet she was nowhere to be seen. When he eventually found Mina, Sonic had thought he might finally get some answers, being good friends with the mongoose, but to his horror she had said nothing before her hand lashed out and slapped him across his face stating that was for Sally.

He had made sure in the bathroom that a mark hadn't been left on his face, sadly he wasn't so lucky. Maybe that was why Coach was convinced something was up, the hedgehog had only seen it afterwards.

"Very well done boys, an excellent presentation, and looking through these notes you've covered all nine factors perfectly, though you didn't have to highlight them to make sure I didn't miss anything. A good effort nonetheless, congratulations you passed" the teacher spoke up when Silver and Knuckles finally got to sit back down. When hearing they had passed they turned to each other and fist bumped.

Looking ahead, her eyes scanned around the classroom, "Now whose next… Sonic and Tails. Care to come down?" she smiled, he knew it was fake.

With a shaky breath to calm his nerves, Sonic took the box out of his bag and Tails carried the paperwork. The hedgehog nudged the fox for his attention, "good luck" he mouthed, Tails smiling and doing the same.

Getting up and walking to the front of the class was like a convict walking to the chair of death. They stood behind the small table that was provided and Tails handed the homework to the teacher for her to look through. With everyone's judging and resentful eyes upon him, Sonic placed the metal box upon the table, along with an old broken looking laptop.

"F-for our project… me and S-Sonic umm… w-we ugh…"

Biting down on his lip, Sonic turned his head to the side slightly to get a better view of the fox that stood next to him. Tails was looking at the ground, any confidence he once had completely gone and was shivering from all the cold eyes that locked on him. The teacher was already taking notes and by looking at her she was taking Tails lack of showmanship into hand when it came to grading them. Was this all the slip she needed? Not if he could help it.

"For the presentation we didn't exactly have many ideas, not ones that would keep us interested for more than three seconds anyway. But when looking over the different factors and seeing what kind of research we needed to do, we found the perfect thing to talk about. Ladies and Gentleman, I present to you, our project" with a small flashy bow, Sonic reached his hand out and opened the metal Acorn encrusted box, revealing inside a beautiful shining green emerald.

The moment the powerful rays were exposed, the lights in the room flickered momentarily, the projector on the ceiling started to move around on its own, causing the screen to go off centre from the white board while the teachers computer opened up several programs without her touching it. A small red light that hadn't blinked in a long time, finally started to blink again upon the security camera.

Every student reacted to the sudden changes, either by jumping from their desks or screeching from the shock. But either way they were all entranced with the glowing green gem, even Mrs. Winters had stood from her desk and placed a hand on her chest from the surprise.

It was the reaction the hedgehog and fox had hoped for, "That's right guys, a Chaos Emerald."

"Nothing much is known about them, but the power these emeralds have is so strong that using it along with technology has an unpredictable reaction. It can be used to either power machinery or used to cause a ray in which scrambles a machines internal wiring, giving the electric frequencies too much volume meaning a simple object such as a broken laptop has the power to be a bomb" the young fox finally found his voice as he explained what they had studied. He held his hand out to Sonic who held the broken laptop in his hands high for everyone to see before putting it down. He opened it up and tried to turn it on, only for an error message to pop up after a few moments, showing it was broken. "If we were to let the emerald make direct contact with the laptop it would be enough to hack into every computer in this School and scramble up every code and information on every program, even the internet. In extreme cases using the laptop while this is happening is enough to make it blow up. However, when containing the power and using it in small measures, the results can be different" Tails picked up a cable wire which on the end had crocodile clips, he clipped one end to the side of the box and the other he clipped onto the laptop. The emerald shone brighter while the power flew visibly from one end to the other until the whole laptop was shrouded with a green aura. Then suddenly the error message that had been displayed upon the screen was replaced with Welcome. It had worked.

"Despite all the research, we not only found that the emeralds work well with mechanics" the young fox lead on, but then signalled to Sonic who smiled back. Reaching out his hand, the hedgehog took a hold of the emerald in his own hand.

A wave of gasps flowed around the class and Knuckles stood from his chair, "Are you crazy?"

But without a sure expectation of what to happen, they were astonished when the emerald glowed brightly between the cracks of Sonic's fingers before engulfing him with a golden glow that made him shine brightly in the now darkened room.

"As you can see, through the emerald only a very few people on Mobius can use it to turn their thoughts into power, Sonic being one of them" the boy chimed, watching as his friend experimented with his new glow, making the emerald react more and watching as the aura flames flickered around his body. Then when he had enough with his lightshow, he placed the emerald back into the box and shut the lid, his golden glow faded and all the machinery returning to normal, finishing their presentation.

With the show over and everyone left in awe, the two mismatched boys smiled widely when Mrs. Winters stood from her desk and clapped her hands together appraisingly. Unsure if they should join or not, the students looked at each other before hesitatingly applauding the two for the presentation they gave.

Looking at each other, Sonic and Tails took in the praise they received before playfully taking bows then packing up their things and returning to their seats.

"Oh wonderful, simply wonderful boys" the teacher spoke proudly. Sonic watched her disbelievingly; he had actually made her change her mind about him. "I must admit I was unsure whether you two would deliver, with Tails being so young and Sonic showing a lack of interest" she put it lightly, "and yet you may have just given us the greatest Science presentation I have ever seen in this School. And looking through the written work you handed in you've covered all nine factors which was considerably hard concerning how little many know of the emeralds" she mused.

Sonic felt as if he was on cloud nine, he actually managed to do it, and now not only would she have to admit she was wrong but he would pass this year with flying colours. There was nothing to ruin it now!

"Which makes it all the more bitter that I have to fail the both of you"

"WHAT?!" Sonic cried out with his fists slamming against the table in disbelief. Tails felt his face drop at the heart breaking news after they had worked so hard…

Mrs. Winters placed her hands together and pouted, "Well I'm truly sorry but yesterday you informed me that your project was going to be about making, and I quote 'Old woman doable', and I did strictly say that once you tell me what your project would be there was no going back" she sighed sadly and shook her head.

The hedgehog wasn't accepting it though as he lunged himself out of his chair, "NO! You can't do this to us! We've spent hours working on this project, we got a damn Chaos Emerald for Mobius sakes! You've passed other losers who had practically nothing to show!"

"And whose fault was it that they had nothing to show hmm? Regardless of what everyone else has done they stuck with what they told me they were doing, you however should have thought about this before you spoke. Please sit down" she explained passively before turning her back on him. But Sonic couldn't hide his anger, the uncontrollable rage that filled within him. Tails had hardly noticed, the fox kept his head down in hopes no one saw the disappointed tears fall from his face.

"We needed to pass to complete this year! We earned it fair and square, and don't freaking care how much you hate me, thanks to you Tails is going to fail because he sucks at football!" he started to shout, unaware of the students who moved away from him when his fur started to fade into something darker.

As his voice grew louder, so did hers, "Mind your tone Mr. Hedgehog and sit back down!" she commanded, turning back and glaring him down. But his eyes locked heavily with hers, a sudden flash of an aura returning to him only this time it was black and not gold.

He bared his seething teeth and locked his fists tightly, "Why should I? I do whatever I want! I don't need some stuck up bitch of a teacher to tell the things I don't need in life. There's no reason for me to be here so there's no reason for me to listen to you. I don't even know what stops me from breaking your neck" he hissed through his darkened sinister voice. The students looked at each other in horror, not understanding what was going on.

But then out of seemingly nowhere, the teacher laughed, unfazed by his visible darkness, "Was that supposed to be a threat? As if I have any real reason to be afraid of you? Look at you."

Sonic stopped, no longer angry but stunned as she advanced on him. "I mean really now do you think people are impressed? You try to act like such a hotshot, the rebel of the School no doubt, but we both know who you really are. A small little boy whose so desperate of the attention he never had before, no father or mother to care, and stuck with an abnormality that makes him too much of a monster to ever be accepted by anyone. So you _pretend_ to be something you're not, which is strong."

_CRASH_

She had very little time to react, no one in the class room had seen it until it was over and it registered in their minds.

But the teacher was now on her hands and knees, panting franticly and thanking the lord she had her feline reflexes.

The blackness in Sonic's fur was gone, as was the aura that surrounded him. The young teen gasped fearfully while staring at his own hands. He hadn't realised what he had done, until he saw his chair at the front of the class room resting on its side with the legs broken and snapped. The white board that was mounted on the wall was now fallen face down, the screen cracked and the wires sparking with electricity.

He didn't understand how he had done it, but he was so angry and he felt stronger since he held the emerald. Looking around, every student had jumped out of their chairs and stood by the walls, each one fearing him. Tails stood with Knuckles, away from him like the rest.

Then the teacher stood up, enraged at what he had done. With every marching step to she took to him he backed away until he was against the wall. He held his hand out to stop her, "no" he pleaded with a whimper, but she took him firmly by the arm and dragged him to the door. "Get this place cleaned up, I'll be back soon" she yelled out to everyone who watched in bewilderment. When passing his desk she picked up his bag and forced it into his hands aggressively, showing everyone that he wasn't coming back.

* * *

><p><strong>Oh boy, things don't look good for Sonic now :S<strong>

**If you want a quick update please bug me, it helps lol. Till next time xx**


	10. To The Office

**I am so so so so so sorry, I promised a quick update and I sadly had things going on at home.**

**I did want this chapter to be longer but I also wanted to update quickly. So I decided to leave it on this, however next chapter may be my shortest chapter, but probably not, who knows :)**

**Anyways, I am litrally over the moon at how many reviews I got, thank you guys so much! You are so awesome, all of you :D**

**Well enjoy the chapter, sorry for any mistakes, I'll fix it later ^^**

* * *

><p>Every step he took he placed a heavy weight upon himself as he tried to pull away from her, but she held his arm so tight that he felt it go numb. She was practically dragging him down the hallway and all he could do was try to pry her hand off him, even though he was normally stronger than her he just felt so weak, and he was unsure if it was something to do with the emerald this time or his unavoidable growing fear. "Please don't do this" he whimpered, his chest racing for breath. She however remained silent, angered and bitter towards him. So when she pulled him towards the teachers' lounge, he truly did not know what would await him as she pulled open the door and threw him inside, making sure the room was empty before slamming the door behind them both and pulling down the blind.<p>

Now out of anybody's sight, she pushed Sonic away from her, causing the teen to trip on his feet and almost fall to the ground. His bag dropped from his arm and he spun around breathlessly to faced her.

Mistake!

The moment he turned, he felt the hard back of a large book slam across his head. With a sharp cry his whole world started to spin. He was unable to stand still now swaying side to side while his vision blurred out of focus. He hadn't noticed he fell to the floor until the double version of his teacher was stood vertically, walking to what he thought might have been a table and placing the book back down until there was nothing more than darkness and an irritating thumping noise ringing through his ears.

* * *

><p>Tails sat back at the desk he now shared with Sonic. Looking at the clock it had been almost ten minutes since Mrs. Winters had taken Sonic away. He wasn't sure where though, probably to Robotnik's office. The whole scene kept running through his mind like it was on replay. The blackness of Sonic's fur, his sudden strength, it all puzzled him so much, and when he had a puzzle on his mind he couldn't sleep until it was solved. The other students were talking about him, not in a good way. Of course Tails wasn't involved in any of their conversations, until Knuckles called out to him.<p>

The young fox looked up at the red echidna who now walked over to him. Some of the kinder students had cleaned up the mess Sonic made but Knuckles didn't hesitate to move a few chairs out of his way despite their efforts. "You've been hanging out with Sonic a lot recently" the red teen stated plainly, though Tails detected the slight bitterness behind his words. He was putting the eight year old on the spot and mostly everyone was looking, hoping they would get some new information to pass around.

"Ugh… yes?" he mumbled, unsure where the conversation was going.

"So care to tell me what's being going on with him lately? Seeing as after all you're such good buddies" he laughed, clearly mocking the child. Tails wasn't really sure how to answer that question, or how to respond in general, so he timidly shrugged his shoulders, "I-I don't know…"

"Oh please, I bet this is all because of you that he's acting weird now. You're probably doing some freaky tests on him without him even realising it" the echidna snapped.

The child's eyes widened worriedly, "What?! No no, I would never do that-"

"Oh yeah" Knuckles scoffed, "Ever since you met Sonic all you wanted to do was run experiments on him. How come now you're suddenly trying to be friends with him after all the times he humiliated you? Especially as that stupid Science exposition is coming up that, hmm let me think, you lost last year."

Bright pink flushed across his white furred mussel, and the smell of sweat filled the fox's nose when he realised how hot he suddenly felt. "H-how did you know about the Science exposition?"

"Simple, I looked online to get ideas for the project and noticed it on the website; your name came up as the first entry."

He now didn't know what to say, his small mouth opened and closed like a fish looking for water, "I-it has n-nothing to do w-with Sonic! I-I just…"

Knuckled placed a large hand into the air and silenced the fox, "Don't bother kid, but if you want to save yourself trouble from me!" he leaned in closely and smiled, showing off his razor like teeth "I'd stay away from Sonic, got it?"

Nodding was the only thing Tails could do, so with a final grin Knuckles pulled away and walked back to his chair, allowing the other students to create their own stories about what had happened, he learned a long time ago how to tune people out. When he sat back down, he watched as the young fox quickly pulled out his personal note pad and start writing things down, clearly trying to distract himself as he looked ready to cry.

A slight tap from the white hedgehog next to him pulled him away from his gaze, "Dude what was that all about?" Silver asked, not understanding the situation. A small growl ripped through the echidna's throat and he glared at the fox, "I don't trust that kid, I think he's up to something" was his answer. Silver took a moment to let his words sink in, looking at the young fox as well who appeared so harmless, "Yeah but I don't see the big deal in it" he mistakenly said as Knuckles looked at him as if it was personal, "Oh, so I suppose you'd be happy to be put on display as an abnormal freak of nature and have loads of old people prod you about and do experiments on you just to see why you can move faster than what some consider normal huh?" he snapped. "I don't think it would come to that Knucks."

"Whatever, Sonic doesn't want to be put on show like a trained animal, and I think Tails might be looking for a little more than friendship." With the way Knuckles spoke, Silver could tell in his voice there was genuine concern, "Why do you care so much?"

Knuckles didn't answer.

* * *

><p>Blacking out was bad, but waking up had been worse.<p>

When Sonic eventually had opened his eyes again, the first thing he did was panic. His hands had been bounded together behind his back with duct tape. He realised he was sat on a chair, his legs were taped in place and he was immobile. He screamed, but tape covered his mouth and nothing could be heard outside the room, that didn't stop him from trying. His chest felt heavy while fear and anxiety played havoc on his insides. He turned his head side to side, desperate to get his clear vision back. And eventually he did, but he saw the door was barricaded with one of the file cabinets which meant it no one could walk in.

He pulled against his bondages, an effort in vain; all he achieved was making his chair jump and move more to the left. But with one big pull, he lost all balance and felt the small chair fall backwards. He yelped, but before making contact with the ground two hands reached out and caught him from behind before placing him right. Hyperventilating, Sonic didn't need to look to know who it was, but watched as the black cat walked slow and swiftly around him, her hand never leaving his shoulder until they were facing each other, then her hand raised slowly and brushed against his face as she cupped his cheek. "Comfy?" she smiled sickly, to which the blue hedgehog looked down in shame. Then with laughter she pulled away from him, watching as the boy once again struggled against his bonds.

"I wouldn't bother Sonic, there are plenty of other things you should be more worried about now" he stopped at her words, eyes wide and terrified and he whimpered harshly, ignoring the building tears he wanted so badly to keep inside.

His eyes snapped to her, watching her sway to one of the desks and picking up objects he couldn't see. "You haven't been out long, but long enough for me to figure out what to do with you" her voice sang softly, yet every word cut like a knife. She finally turned and he saw in her hands she held a cigar and a lighter. He wasn't sure what was going to happen, but he couldn't ask.

His body trembled as he watched her place the cigar between her lips and light the end before blowing a puff of smoke through the air. The sensation of being tied up started to get to him, he felt churning through his stomach and the urge to throw up with abundant. He needed to run, he needed to move, and he was so desperate he was willing to face anything. Was this his punishment? Being restrained? He wanted to ask so badly, he just wanted an answer, or anything.

But she turned to him, and descended upon him with her eyes growing darker and the cigar end growing brighter the more the fire burned upon it. Then he knew being left restrained would have been too good for him.

He shook his head and pleaded silently, every scream and cry being blocked out once again. She kneeled down in front of him, her face close to his. She placed the cigar back into her lips once again, and blew the thick smoke directly into the blue hedgehogs face, causing him to choke whilst struggling against his gag.

She held the cigar in front of him, twirling it between her fingers and getting his reluctant attention. "There were many things I wanted to do to you, beat you, and maybe scar you… blind you even. But in the end I suppose I should be a little subtle, don't you agree?" she spoke in a voice innocent and sweet as honey.

Tears finally did fall from his pleading eyes when Sonic finally realised what she had intended to do. He didn't understand how she could be so sick and crazy, or what he had done to cause her to react as bad as this! But he didn't know what to do now; he closed his eyes and cried out sorrowfully, trying so hard to beg for forgiveness.

She could understand him, but ignored him. "We both know why this is happening. You literally leave me with no choice" she sighed, as if it was harder upon her then him. Then there was one final smile as her hand reached out to the zip upon the red jacket Sonic wore. With a slight hum in her voice she slowly pulled it down, exposing the soft pink circle of flesh that was surrounded with blue.

Sonic scrunched his eyes together and bit down hard upon his lip.

Though muffled, his blood curling screams filled through the room as the burning impact tore through his flesh, fire eating away in small circles upon his chest as his torture began.

The teacher showed no remorse as she dug at him, placing the cigar upon his chest again and again, embracing his fear and pain, caring no more as he begged and pleaded, his tears falling on her hands. He flung himself around, tipping the chair side to side to get away so she held him still. Again and again she pushed the fire on his skin, leaving behind red circles of burnt flesh. But she got carried away.

Her eyes snapped wide and she spun her head around. Looking at the clock, she realised she had been away from her class for over twenty minutes. It struck her then, this wasn't detention or lunch break. Other students were waiting for her and any longer would surely leave them talking.

So she pulled the cigar of the blue teens flesh, leaving the boy to scream through his pain, his chest was burning with the fire and blistered started to form upon the ugly scars.

She left him, walking to the window which view had been blocked out by the blind, she allowed a little view so she could reach and open it up, letting fresh air rush into the room. She pulled out the secret ash tray many teachers liked to keep hidden and put the cigar out, and then threw the evidence out the window along with the ashes.

Turning around, she saw Sonic had grown pale and he curled in on himself. She had wanted to keep the window opened but he screamed so much she couldn't risk it. She closed it once again and pulled down the blind. Going to her desk she pulled out air freshener and sprayed a lot of it all around the room, not leaving any part untouched.

With the evidence gone, there was just one thing to deal with.

With scissors in her hands, she walked up to the hedgehog. The pain he felt was so over baring he failed to notice anything she had done. But seeing her knelling down to him once again with scissors in her hand, he flipped. A pure cry of fear sliced his throat and he shook his head wildly once again pleadingly, sobbing at the thought of what else she would do to him filled his mind. But instead she grabbed the bond she had made upon his legs and cut away at them.

Finally he was able to kick out. He didn't bother to aim for her, instead the moment his feet were back on the ground he tried to run away, but his frantic movements only ended with him losing complete balance and tipping the chair and himself over. Failing to keep him still, the teacher moved quickly to get to the back where his wrists had been tapped together. Only when she cut throw the bond, Sonic ripped his hands apart and scrambled to all fours. He pathetically crawled away from her until he was up against the wall, as far back as he could be. His His hands went instantly to his chest, he couldn't bear to touch the wounds, but he tensed up so much he couldn't pull away.

He couldn't breathe, he started gasping for air as the agonised sobs rose from inside. His trembling hands went to the duct tape that was upon his lips, but the moment he gripped the sides a pair of hands snatched his wrists and pulled them away, causing Sonic to alarmingly turn to the woman who stood over him dominatingly. His hands turned as white as his gloves, she was holding his wrists too tight as bruising was already starting to form.

"Nuh uh, I don't think so" she hissed in a hush tone, Sonic's cried still being muffled out, "If you want it off I suggest you keep it down."

All he wanted to do was let his agony go, scream until his lungs bled out, but fear managed to take over, he breathed through the pain which caused the feeling of suffocation to take over as he choked against the tape. He tried so hard to silence himself and it felt like an eternity to which he just couldn't handle it. Eventually though, he got to the point his eyes stung as much as his chest and his throat could have easily been bleeding. He managed to settle himself and keep his screaming under control.

When satisfied, the teacher smiled approvingly and let go one of his wrists, to which his hand instantly went to the other to weakly pry off her hold, an attempt that failed.

With her free hand she gripped the side of the tape and with a fast lash of her arm; it ripped off his sore red lips. An instant shrill cry at the pain and he suffered by her gripping his wrist tighter, letting her claws dig in. Finally able to breath, he choked on his sobs, which he kept quiet, his forehead fell upon his captive wrist and he pleaded with her.

Eventually she let go, watching as he fell forward, only catching himself on his hands before once again curling into a ball on the floor and holding onto himself, pitiful whimpering surrounded the room while his tears fell free. His throat was burning as the horrible taste of bile caused him to gag each time his stomach lurched, until he couldn't hold it down anymore and vomit passed between his lips and covered the floor.

He chocked against the disgusting flavour, crying at the pain that cramped his stomach when he wretched once again, no unable to keep anything down and wishing he hadn't eaten at lunch. He buried his head into his arm, which he helplessly leaned against the wall. He let his shoulders shudder as he whimpered loudly.

His eyes were shut tight, but opened when a light tap of heeled shoes sounded next to him. He looked up pitifully at her, she once again showed no emotion to him.

"…Why?" he breathed out helplessly, his eyes so red and dry that looking at her stung, but he wanted his answer, why had she hurt him so much?

She shrugged with a little smile once again, "Why not?"

* * *

><p><em>From where he was high in the sky, all he saw was fire and rubble below. Buildings toppled down, causing nothing but havoc and chaos. Millions of people ran around in a panic while their fearful screams sang through his ears. <em>

_He laughed manically as lasers shot from robot and robot, firing at will to anything moving or not, so long as it caused destruction. _

_The rounded moustached man laughed at it all from his flying egg mobile, he held his arms high in the air as he watched it all. Taking over the world had never felt so amazing! It could have easily been a dream…_

Knock. Knock. Knock.

With a startled snort, the large man jumped awake from his slumbering state at the sudden noise from the door. He quickly looked around; he wasn't in his much beloved egg mobile, no was he watching the city being destroyed. He was sitting in his large chair with his feet up upon the desk. Instead of the red villainous attire he had envisioned himself to be dressed in he wore a simple grey suit and a red shirt and tie.

Dream now replaced with reality, Robotnik growled lowly to himself and he placed his feet back down to the ground beneath his desk. He picked up a pen and positioned himself to look as if he had been busy with work. A hand gently stroked his extremely long moustache when he finally answered, "Come on in!" he shouted, "It's not like I was doing anything" he added with a small mumble.

The door opened and he grinned when the black tabby cat walked into his office, "Ah Mrs. Winters, a pleasure as always" he started to say, but his smile soon changed when he saw she wasn't alone. Carefully in her hands, she held that blue hedgehog he detested with a passion, the very boy that ruined his life. Normally he won't give the rat any time of the day, but Mrs. Winters held him carefully in her hands like he would fall apart at any moment.

With his brow raised high, Robotnik studied the teenager's appearance. The boy was far too pale for what was normal, his eyes looked swollen and the red veins were too intense to look at. He was wearing that jacket again but it had dark patches down the front which he wasn't sure were from, but judging by the vile smell in the room, he could easily guess it was vomit. He saw that the blue hedgehog couldn't focus properly, his head lulled side to side and his legs shook under his light weight. The teacher was holding him for a reason, to stop him from falling down.

Pushing his chair back, Robotnik stood up and moved around his desk to approach the two, "What on Mobius happened?" he growled accusingly, not showing an ounce of sympathy but instead seemed like he was already blaming him.

"Oh Robotnik I didn't know what else to do. He needs medical care but I felt the situation was far too urgent I had to come to you first" Mrs. Winters answered, she looked at the rounded man with so much concern while her hands held the hedgehog closer to herself, her eyes looking down at the boy sadly.

Pausing from her words, Robotnik placed his hands across his chest and locked his arms together, he waited for her to continue, "What did he do this time?" he spat angrily at the hedgehog, who only looked away from the Principle shamefully. With a brief pardon, the teacher helped the blue hedgehog to sit down on the chair in front of Robotniks desk, placing his bag next to him. As soon as Sonic felt the weight off his legs, he felt so dizzy he didn't know if he could stay awake. The teacher helped him place his arms on the desk so he could rest his head for a moment, which of course made her look like a saint at this point, despite she was the reason he felt like this.

Robotnik hadn't helped, he just watched impatiently not understanding why she didn't just let him get on with it himself, "Well?" he beckoned her.

Turning her back on the teen, it was like the two suddenly forgot Sonic was there. He breathed deeply but listened to what she had to say.

"I don't know what happened, but I was in the middle of my Science lesson. Sonic and Tails gave me their presentation but unfortunately I had to fail them both on. That's when he flipped out, it all happened so fast I didn't have much time to react, but he picked up his chair and threw it at me. You can even see the damage it caused to the classroom it was terrible! So I took him out of the classroom and placed him in the teachers' lounge area, I had hoped he'd calm himself down there. Only I made a mistake, I left the room for a few minutes and when I came back inside I found him…" she stopped, looking completely distressed at her own story.

Robotnik pushed her on, "Yes? What did he do?" he snapped.

Rubbing her forehead she sighed, "He had a packet of cigarettes on him; he started lighting all of them and ripped some pages out of the books. He was trying to set fire to them… I feared he was trying to burn down the School."

"What?" Sonic winced through his pain, finding the strength to push his head up and stare frantically at the woman who lied to his principal. Looking at Robotnik, it was only false hope that he would doubt her story. He was appalled at what he heard and glared down at the young teen despising. "Why you little blue rodent!" he abruptly spat, his hands held out ready to choke which caused Sonic to cry out fearfully. But Robotnik paused when remembering he had company.

So standing up right and clearing his throat he corrected himself, "So what happened to him, why is he like this?" he asked while giving the ailing hedgehog a dirty look. "When I saw what he was doing I just panicked, I grabbed him and tried to pull him away but he started to fight with me. I can't recall exactly what happened but he somehow lost his footing and fell onto the cigarettes, he also banged his head against the side of the desk, the injuries are really bad" she explained. Approaching Sonic once again, the hedgehog wanted to back away from her but she reached out and tipped his head to the side, apparently showing Robotnik something on the back of his head. He hadn't noticed anything there but then he couldn't see that area. After explaining the bump, she pushed him back into the chair so they could both get a better view of his chest, where she opened his jacket a little and showed the Principal the nasty looking scars. He didn't feel safe or comfortable through any of this, but there was nothing he could do.

Nodding in satisfaction, Robotnik placed a heavy hand upon Sonic's shoulder, an action to which a moaned at the forceful impact, "Yes well, you did the right thing Mrs. Winters. I'll send for a nurse right away but for now I feel I should have a little word with… Sonic. I'm sure your students are waiting for you" he dismissed, though he found himself wanted to say many other things then the boy's actual name.

The blue teen trembled beneath his hold; he wanted to be as far away from his teacher as possible, but being left in Robotniks care… what if that was worse?

* * *

><p><strong>Ohhhh my days, what do you guys think is gonna happen? Please leave your opinions in the reviews :D<strong>


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